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ORTHOPAEDIC CAST TECHNOLOGY. A CASE STUDY OF THE MANAGEMENT OF STRESS AMONG FECOT STUDENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
No nation that cherishes industrialization can afford to ignore technology education. The industrialized nations such as the United States of America, Britain, Japan, Germany, Russia and China, are reputed for their scientific and technological imaginations. In Nigeria, the workforces that can bring about industrialisation are trained in higher institutions of learning. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria [1], higher institutions of learning are established to give higher education, such as technology education, to individuals after secondary school in the universities, colleges of education and polytechnics.
Technology education is a general name given to all forms of education that are concerned with the use of appropriate strategies to impart knowledge about technological skills and concepts as well as the arts of teaching to individuals. This diversified form of education covers areas such as Automobile Technology, Building Technology, Electrical and Electronics
Technology, Metal Work Technology and Wood Work Technology. Graduates of these programmes, depending on their levels, are given first, second, or third degrees, as well as National Certificate in Education (NCE) in technology/technical education. One of the problems of this form of education in Nigeria however is lack of adequate and qualified teachers and as such, the few existing ones are overworked and stressed up. Researchers revealed that stressors are higher in teaching than other professions. More so, occupational stress is perceived to even become higher in the teaching of technology education courses.
This may be because teachers of technology education have to deal with machines and human beings. Hence, the enormity of the work may lead to a lot of stress.
Stress refers to the feeling that is created when an individual physically or psychologically reacts to a stimulus. The stimuli that elicit stress are called stressors. This ranges from administrative responsibilities to teaching or instructional responsibilities, just to mention a few examples of common stressors among teachers of technology education in the higher institutions of learning [4]. Stress at work is called occupational stress. [5] defined occupational stress as the adverse reaction individuals have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them at work. Occupational stress therefore occurs when there is a disagreement between the demands of the place of work and that of the individual’s capabilities.
Typical stressors among the teachers of technology education include: work-overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, group pressure, responsibility, under-participation, powerlessness, poor peer relationship, poor salary and large class size [6]. Work-overload is perceived as workload beyond the scope of the statutory requirements of a position. Workover-load is high in technology education programmes. Teachers must master multitasking to cope with all the demands that accompany this form of occupation. They have to create lesson plans; grade the unending students’ assignments; attend infinite school meetings, make series of presentations, attend conferences and project defences; and get involved in extra curricula activities. Teacher’s promotion may also defend on the amount of contributions he made to the world of knowledge through publications in peer reviewed journals, community services and so on. This means that teachers of technology education must frequently use time outside the prescribed work day to complete required tasks at work.
Occupational stress in technology education also includes load ambiguity. Meaning, teachers in most cases are not involved in curriculum planning and development yet, they are expected to implement it effectively. Government reforms in education have been introduced to counter concerns for curriculum innovation managements. Rather than working in partnership with teachers to enact changes in curricula, mandates are rather imposed, making teachers to endure performance anxiety and stresses when implementing the new curricula initiatives.
Furthermore, teachers may not enter the field of technology education to become rich. However, in most cases teachers’ salaries are less than those of professionals in business and industries. Insufficient financial rewards combined with other occupational concerns can leave teachers feeling stressed. Technology educational stressors are not only limited to work-overload, poor financial compensations and stresses related to students’ behaviours and large class sizes, but also due to inadequate relationship with colleagues teachers, parents, students and administrators. Occupational stress in higher institutions may vary from teacher to teacher depending on their appointments, educational qualifications and years of teaching experience.
Experience refers to the accumulation of knowledge and skills as one continues to participate in a certain activity. Thus, as teachers participate in the teaching activity they are expected to learn or acquire a lot of related skills and knowledge over the years of teaching service. However, a study by [10] revealed no significant correlation between teaching experience and occupational stress. Contrary to this, the early teaching career in higher institutions has been recognized as being highly stressful [11]. Ordinarily one may expect that with maturation in the job, experienced teachers in higher institution have adopted strategies on how to cope with occupational stress. This assumption however, is subject to clarification from empirical evidence which according to available literatures, still proves inconclusive.
Stress may also increase or reduce with teachers’ position of appointment. For instance a serious and dedicated head of department may perform the mandates of his position and still take part in the academic activities. Others may use the power and influence of their offices to shift responsibilities or more stressful functions to those without any appointment.
In the same vein, teachers with higher qualification may experience less occupational stress because of their superiority in knowledge. The university environment is often characterized with more teachers that have higher qualifications than polytechnics and colleges of education. Since knowledge is wisdom, teachers with higher qualifications may have better skills of disposing their duties and managing occupational stress than those with lower qualification. This may be why university teaching has traditionally been regarded as a low stress occupation. In historical point of view it could be true, but it is not so at modern universities as there is increasing demand of university qualifications than polytechnic and colleges of education. Surprisingly, found that university teaching is severely stressful. In contrast, reported that occupational stress may be higher among polytechnic teachers. There is need therefore for further inquiry of occupational stress among teachers in different higher institutions even though some scholars argue that occupational stress is not always a negative aspect.
While a low level stress may result to low performance and laziness, good stress or optimal level stress (eustress) has the effects of motivating, exciting, increasing productivity and success [15]. Some scholars therefore argue that those who work in a moderate level of stress have high performance. This trend however is now changing, because other scholars challenge as naïve the misconception that the purported increased productivity due to good stressors is a permanent relationship. [16] for instance, revealed that beyond that optimum level of stress, performance may fall off. This may be because human body responds to stressors by activating the nervous system and some hormones. These hormones increase the speed of heart beat, breathing, blood pressure and metabolism. According to [4], this reaction to stressors is known as the stress response. Working efficiently, the response mechanism makes individuals to perform well under pressure. However, this stress response mechanism can also cause trouble when it persists or fail to reset itself properly. Therefore, long lasting stress also known as bad stress can cause negative effects. These effects include poor performance, absenteeism, bad health and job dissatisfaction [17,18,19]. Stressed up teachers may be less sympathetic toward students, have low tolerance and feel frequently emotionally or physically exhausted. Bad stress leads to frustration among teachers. They may feel anxious, irritable, depressed and less committed to their work. Stress among teachers cannot be totally eliminated but it can be coped with or managed to optimum level.
In order to reduce the negative effects of occupational stress among technology education teachers it is highly desirable to consider and adopt some stress management strategies as suggested by experts such as. These include: improved self-esteem; building of selfconfidence; developing emotional intelligence competencies, exercising regularly, fostering good friend circle, cultivating hobbies, developing good communication skills, and seeking for professional help categorized stressors among teachers as intrinsic and situational. Intrinsic stressors are permanent in the teaching profession. Situational stressors on the other hand are seasonal within the school calendar. While teachers have to understand and learn how to cope with the intrinsic stressors, the situational can be managed with experience and common sense. Certainly, occupational stress needs to be managed among teachers of technology education.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In the present era of technological advancement and consequent increasing needs in technological imaginations and economical breakthrough among developing nations, there is a perceived high level of negative stress among technology education teachers. Nigeria has realized the importance of technology education for socio-economic development, yet till date, there are only few colleges of education (technical) and universities of technologies to accommodate its ever increasing populace. Even the few higher institutions of learning still suffer from shortage of qualified teachers and lack of appropriate instructional materials [24]. These could be sources of occupational stress among teachers of technology education. For instance, due to shortage of manpower in the department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology Minna, no admission slot was given to the postgraduate candidates in the 2014/2015 academic session. More so, the practicality of technology education may increase the level of stress involved in its teaching.
It is therefore pertinent to investigate occupational stress and management strategies among technology education teachers to preclude the negative effects of stress and stressors. [25] Cautioned that failure to account for the extent of negative stressors among teachers may lead to cancer, hypertension, kidney failure, suicide, death, lost of vision and some other physical and psychological disabilities. Hence, the problem of this study, put in form of a question is: What are the occupational stress and management strategies among technology education teachers in higher institutions.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
1. To understand the importance of orthopaedic cast technology in the management of stress among students.
2. What is the relationship between orthopaedic cast technology and the management of stress among students.
1.4. Research questions
1. What is the importance of orthopaedic cast technology in the management of stress among students.
2. What is the relationship between orthopaedic cast technology and the management of stress among students.
1.5 Research hypotheses
H0: There is no relationship between orthopaedic cast technology and the management of stress among students.
H1: There is a relationship between orthopaedic cast technology and the management of stress among students.
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