RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS FACTORS AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZONE ‘B’ EDUCATION AREA OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the relationship between stress factors and job performance of Basic Science teachers in Zone 'B’ Education Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The study adopted the correlational research design. Two research questions were raised and answered and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 7 LGAs, 89 public secondary schools and 900 Basic Science teachers. The sample size was 7 LGAs, 28 public secondary schools and 269 Basic Science teachers. Multi-stage sampling procedure involving purposive sampling, stratified random sampling, use of standardised table and simple random sampling techniques were adopted at various stages of sampling process. The face and content validity of the instruments was done by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Benue State University, Makurdi. To determine the reliability of the two instruments, the researcher administered the instruments to 30 respondents in schools in Makurdi which were not part of the sample but possessed similar characteristics to the respondents. The reliability test produced 0.98 overall estimate for TSFQ while the subscales were 0.94 for home environment stress factors and 0.94 for work environment stress factors. Overall TJPQ reliability coefficient was 0.99. Pearson- Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance which was done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20. The PPMC analysis revealed a statistical significant negative relationship between home environment stress factors, work environment stress factors and job performance of Basic Science teachers in Zone 'B’ Education Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Sequel to the findings of the work, it was recommended among others that critical education stakeholders such as Educational authorities, school administrators, should implement support programmes such as counselling services, employment of educational psychologists to help in organising stress management workshops for teachers, provide access to mental, emotional and physiological health resources. Parents, students and staff were charged to review their actions and inactions which have the potential of compounding the stress experienced by teachers.