Sources of work stress of English language teachers in secondary government schools in Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to reveal the level of work stress among secondary school English language teachers in government schools affiliated with the education directorates in Abha, Saudi Arabia, and knowing the impact of both gender, and experience on their estimates. The study population consisted of (105) male and female teachers. A questionnaire was prepared to measure the level of work stress among teachers, and it consisted of (31) items. The results showed that the work pressures facing secondary school English language teachers were at a high level on the dimensions as a whole. The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences due to the variable of gender and teaching experience.


Introduction
Work stress is one of the important and common issues that nation institutions attach special importance to in the current era. Public institutions are moving towards expansion, the use of technology and means of communication and media (Aydin & Kaya, 2016). These developments and changes have resulted in many negatives, such as the high unemployment rate due to the use of smart formats and the complexity of the ways and means of completing work (Bowen, 2016). Work pressures have increased and their sources have diversified, and new and previously unknown work pressures have emerged, which has led to many workers falling under the weight of what is newly known as work stress, which affects workers in various aspects, and this in turn is reflected on their job performance within the institutions in which they work (Iyore, 2018).
The teaching profession is one of the social professions that require its employees to have many tasks and high skills. The teacher deals with values and trends that he instils in students, in addition to preparing lessons, setting annual plans, participating in various courses and committees, carrying out extra-curricular activities and shifts, following up on students' attendance, correcting papers and monitoring grades (Bonney et al., 2018). In addition to the workload officially assigned to him, which creates pressures that he may not be able to cope with, and which result in problems that reflect on his life and have negative effects on society (Mailumo, 2018). Shirazizadeh et al. (2019) mentioned that the stresses are reflected in the teachers; upon realizing his inability to meet the requirements of his profession, and his application of the planned programs, which constitutes a threat to himself; it causes a high rate of negative emotions, which are accompanied by physiological changes; in response to these stresses. Several studies have dealt with work stress among workers in educational institutions. Below is a presentation of the studies that were found (Mahboob & Elyas, 2014 Aydin & Kaya (2016) investigated the stressors faced by classroom teachers in private primary schools. The results show that school administration, the teaching profession, and school infrastructure are all sources of stress for teachers. Also, the results showed that inadequacy of resources, continual monitoring, monotony and weariness of the job, competitiveness and ambition, irresponsible/problematic actions of pupils, high demands and expectations, and not being able to spare time for oneself have all been identified as stressors for teachers. Bowen (2016) looked at how stress is induced by variables within and outside the classroom for TESOL teachers working in private language schools in South Africa. The findings showed three major sources of stress for TESOL teachers: the teaching profession, workplace relationships, and organizational and TESOL-related difficulties. These three stressors can be further subdivided into several sub-themes. Work overload, insufficient training and gaps in topic knowledge, time pressure, and student conduct are all sub-themes of stress coming from the profession of teaching. Negative connections with coworkers, administrators, and management are all sub-themes of stress caused by work interactions. Working circumstances, a lack of teaching materials, shared spaces, and a lack of professional development and career progression are all sub-themes of stress caused by organizational and TESOL-related difficulties (Ilyavi, 2019). Bonney et al. (2018) explored sources of stress in senior high schools in Ghana's Cape Coast Metropolis when teaching the topic of Physical Education. Workload, job ambiguity, and a lack of and insufficient equipment and facilities were discovered to be sources of stress in the teaching of Physical Education in Senior High Schools in Cape Coast.
Most of the studies dealt with the sources of work stress for teachers, and they revealed many and varied sources that put stress on teachers. These studies varied in identifying the sources related to work pressure, which indicates the need to conduct additional studies in this field and in different environments. The problem of the study is to reveal the level of work stress among secondary school English language teachers in government schools in Saudi Arabia, as well as to identify the effect of the variables (gender, experience) in explaining the variation in the impact of this phenomenon on teachers

Methods
In order to meet the study's aims, to describe the origins of work stress among teachers, the researcher utilized a descriptive and analytical method.
The study's participants are all English language teachers from Abha's 25 public secondary schools. There were 105 teachers in total, and they were all studied.

Research Instrument
The study relied on a questionnaire consisting of 31 items distributed over four dimensions: work conditions (8) items, occupational burdens (9) items, professional relations (7) and educational policy (7).

Instrument Reliability
Checking the instrument's reliability was by using Cronbach's alpha equation to estimate the internal consistency's reliability. The value instrument's reliability coefficient was found to be (0.856). To identify the sources of work stress among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools for each of the questionnaire dimensions. Means and standard deviation were employed by the researcher.  Table 2 shows that the mean value of work stress among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools is (3.90) and (0.37) as standard deviation. In other words, the sources of work stress level among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools are high significant. Also, the mean score of work conditions dimension among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools was (4.05) and (0.55) as standard deviation. In other words, the sources that related to work conditions among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools are high significant. With regard to occupational burdens among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools was (3.86) and (0.49).as standard deviation. In other words, the sources that related to occupational burdens among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools are high significant. In related to professional relations among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools was (3.82) and (0.70) as standard deviation of (0.70). In other words, the sources that related to professional relations among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools are high significant. Finally, the mean score of educational policy dimension among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools was (3.90) and (0.80) as standard deviation of (0.80). In other words, the sources that  Table 3 shows that among male English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools, the mean score for sources of work stress was (3.91), whereas the mean score for female teachers was (3.89). Furthermore, the P-value of two gender groups is (0.328), indicating that gender has no significant influence on the sources of job stress from the perspective of English instructors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Table 4 demonstrates that there are no variations in experience years across groups, as the Pvalue is (0.109), indicating that the year of experience had no impact that is statistically significant on the sources of work stress among English teachers in Saudi Arabian government schools.
The results of this study showed that secondary school English language teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia suffer from high work pressures. Professional burdens, professional relations or educational policy. Therefore, this interaction between these sources leads to aggravating and complicating the psychological state of teachers, and increases the severity of work pressures in particular. In other words, the more the teacher comes into contact with these conditions and situations, the higher the level of work pressure he has.

Conclusion
The study showed that secondary school English language teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia suffer from stress in their work to a high degree. The study showed that the sources of work stress are working conditions, the burden of the profession, professional relations and educational policy.