Causes of stress among teachers: a study of selected public and private schools in Lusaka, Zambia

The aim of this study was to explore the causes of stress among teachers in selected public and private schools in Lusaka district in Zambia. This study used a Descriptive Research Design supported by quantitative and qualitative approaches. This is because descriptive research studies are usually concerned with defining the characteristics (such as causes of stress among teacher) of particular individuals, or group, such as the one this study focused on. The study also made use of two sampling techniques, these being stratified random sampling which was used for sampling the selected private and public school before using purposeful sampling which was useful in sampling the 70 respondents (60 teachers and 10 administrators) from sampled public and private schools. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistical tool, Excel soft, while thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The findings of the study showed that there quiet several causes of stress among teachers. The most prominent causes, however, included: the large teacher-pupil ratio; low salaries; long working hours; their lack of involvement in social-economic activities; the individual pupil behaviour; poor conditions of service; poor sanitation; and poor infrastructure in their schools. It was recommended that the employers (both in the private and public sectors) for the teachers should consider improving the conditions or service for the teachers as it was observed that the current conditions of service really contributed to the stress the teachers experienced