Effect of Perceived Job-Related Stress on Teacher Job Satisfaction in a High-Stakes Testing Environment

Abstract

Public demand for high scores in the nationwide high-stakes test, that is, Basic Education Certificate Examination places Ghanaian teachers in a position to experience high amount of stress since they are to work harder to ensure that the demand is realized. The main aim of the study was to investigate effect of teachers perceived job-related stress on their job satisfaction. Using public Junior High School teachers in the Kwahu South District as the target population, 120 of them from public 20 schools were selected using proportionate stratified sampling technique with a common ratio of 4:10 (0.4). An adapted high-stakes testing questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Variance based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), specifically, Partial Least Square (PLS) model was used to validate the instrument and to test the study hypothesis 1. Independent samples t-test as well as means and standard deviations were used in the analysis of the data to test the hypothesis 2 and answer the research question respectively. Findings revealed teacher Job-related stress as a significant predictor of job satisfaction in a high-stakes testing environment. Implications are provided for policy and practice.