Assignment 1: Article Review

1. EDU 702 : Research Methodology
Article Review: Teaching in the Yukon-
Exploring teachers’ efficacy beliefs, stress
and job satisfaction in a remote setting
Student name : Adibah Halilah bt. Abdul Mutalib
Student ID : 2011587513
Submission date : 5/19/2012

2. Summary
How does a teacher perform when placed in locations far from their family and
friends? Will a teacher become more effective or will he or she find her job less
gratifying when put in remote areas? Also, will a teacher be able to integrate with a
community different from her own? This article will look at the link between settings
and teachers‟ motivation beliefs; particularly providing us with answers on how
teachers view their self- efficacy, as well as collective efficacy; job stress and job
satisfaction when working in an isolated Canadian province such as Yukon Territory.
The method employed in this research is a mixed-method study where the first stage
relies on a quantitative instrument modelled after a Teachers‟ Sense of Efficacy
Scale (TSES) survey. It was then followed by qualitative data collection, in the form
of individual interviews to understand teachers‟ job beliefs. The result of the study
shows us that there was no significant difference between the Yukon Territory and
urban western Canadian regions, for overall workload stress, student behaviour
stress, nor job satisfaction. In fact it could be noted that when the two settings were
compared and rated for workload stress of larger class sizes, Yukon teachers
reported less workload stress than urban western Canada. Despite that, the study
also revealed slightly reduced levels of self and collective efficacy among Yukon
teachers. For study 2, three main themes were identified, namely the influences of
physical and human geography on job stress and job satisfaction, how job
satisfaction can be acquired through community networking, understanding
cultural transition when looking at teachers’ professional stress.
Overall the study was well documented providing specific details of the
methodology as well as results. This could prove helpful should a need arise for the
research to be replicated. The study also provided a different take on teachers‟ job
beliefs since it also delved into a qualitative method of research which is rarely
undertaken when studying motivation beliefs.
Introduction
The article in review is entitled “Teaching in the Yukon: Exploring teachers‟
efficacy beliefs, stress and job satisfaction in a remote setting”. It is written by Robert
M. Klassen, Rosemary Y. Foster, Sukaina Rajani and Carley Bowman. The article
has been selected from an International Journal of Education research published in
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3. the year 2009. The objective of the article is to evaluate whether teachers working in
Yukon, a predominantly secluded place in Canada, serves as a more stressful place
to teach for teachers as compared to teachers teaching in urban, Western Canada.
The differences between the two groups were checked for teachers‟ self and
collective efficacy, job stress and job satisfaction. Another purpose of the study was
to collect information about how geographical and social issues may or may not
affect teachers‟ work. The implications and significance of a study like this is to better
understand the perceptions and views of teachers‟ workload, stress as well as
community roles and factors which influence stress leading to job satisfaction.
Before the study was carried out, the article clearly defines several
operational definitions and context of the study. The review includes the definition of
„remote setting‟ as areas with a lack of amenities, professional development like
training opportunities and specialized services for teachers. It also states that such
setting is a place where stark differences in cultural backgrounds can be found.
According to Mill & Gale, 2003, this could prove as a challenge for teachers who
share different values and beliefs from mainstream school teachers.
With respect to the location Yukon Territory was selected due to its unique
setting. Bordering Alaska, there are only 32,000 residents in which there are only 28
schools housing 5000 students between K-12. Based on Fraser Institute, 2009,
Yukon Territory students show a markedly decreased academic performance as
compared to schools in urban Canada.
Variables that were measured in this article are 2-folds; teachers‟ motivation
beliefs, i.e. teachers‟ self and collective efficacy beliefs, as well as teachers‟ stress
and job satisfaction. It was pointed out however, that job satisfaction was a
dependant variable where self and collective efficacy and stress precede job
satisfaction. The problem that is researched here is whether teachers in remote
settings such as Yukon Territory have different motivation beliefs than those in urban
Canadian provinces. The research problem thus can be broken down into three main
research questions, which are:
to find out the relationship between Teacher efficacy beliefs, job stress
and job satisfaction in Yukon Territory.
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4. to explore the levels and relationship patterns between remote Yukon
and urban western Canadian provinces.
to discover the factors which influence job stress and job satisfaction?
Literature Review
The resources for the study were taken from articles dated between the years
1995 to 2009. Definitions of motivation beliefs were divided into teachers‟ self and
collective efficacy beliefs and teacher stress and job satisfaction. From the literature
review, Bandura‟s social cognitive theory, 1997 said that the former is influenced by
student and teacher outcomes, where one’s efficacy can help handle students’
behaviour and may in turn affect one’s job satisfaction. Another aspect of efficacy is
to look at collective teacher efficacy, where it has been reported that better teacher
and staff collaboration can influence student outcomes in challenging conditions. It
can also be purported that based on previous research, teachers‟ stress is negative
emotions resulting from a teacher‟s work. It is understood that the higher the stress,
the lower will be a teachers‟ self-efficacy. Nonetheless, the extent of previous
studies, have not ventured into the multi-faceted factors leading to stress. One such
facet not yet fully explored is the setting of the teacher.
The literature review is clear in presenting the definitions of the key variables.
Yet, since the article does state that sources of stress is not based on a uni-factor,
more details could be included on the types of stress attributed to workload and
student misbehaviour. Are such stress factors different over the grade levels or do
they remain the same. One underlying factor that could have been better addressed
is the types of school that usually reported higher levels of stress, and whether
issues like different grade levels , socio-economic status of students showed higher
or lower teacher stress levels. A class teacher that is teaching an exam class will
surely have more stress level than a non- exam class. If such were the case, these
factors could be controlled to provide better reliability of results, and should have
been highlighted in the literature review. Another issue which perhaps needed to be
addressed is the demographics of the Aboriginal versus the European students in
the schools that were surveyed. Does the demographic of the student play a role in
the stress levels of students? Then again, such information may infringe upon ethical
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5. practices, which was not divulged in this article. It was however stated in the article
that ratio of male and female teachers, experience and even grade ranges were
similar between the two groups including socio-economic status of students and
therefore these extranneous factors were controlled.
Methodology
The study was divided into two parts. The quantitative research which was
conducted in four visits over a period of two years in Yukon Territory. The survey
data was collected at teachers‟ conventions, which represented all 28 schools of the
territory. The 107-sample also contained both elementary and secondary school
teachers and with different compositions of grade levels; 22 % (K-12) 30 % (K- 9)
and 43 %( 7- 12). The sample in the comparison group came from varying suburban
schools in western Canada, and they also consisted of approximately 61% female
teachers, with also 13.1 years experience. The sample size was not explicitly stated
and the configurations of teaching levels were not mentioned. However it was
reported that there were no significant difference in sample age, experience in
teaching and gender. Several assumptions on the other hand may have to be made
by the reader with respect to the grade configurations, and ethnicity of the teachers.
It is mentioned in the Yukon Territory sample that a majority of the respondents
taught older school children which may mean different student behaviour challenges
from younger school children. The comparison group could have taught younger
school children, which may mean another array of stress issues. Since this was not
addressed, it is to be assumed that the varying grade levels do not result in varying
teachers stress levels. It was also mentioned that Yukon territory teachers were not
permitted to state their school or community due to request by authorities. This could
mean an acknowledgment on the part of the authorities that certain schools may
thrive academically more than others school, and should not be divulged due to
ethical responsibilities. The implications of this show us that sample may not be
equally represented in all schools. The method of collecting data from such group
was thus the accessible population, and may not necessarily reflect the true target
population. Another issue in the method of collecting data should have stated details
of how teachers were employed. Is the placement of teachers in such remote areas
a matter of choice or is it decided by a governing body- like the Ministry of
Education? If so, this factor could have an impact on a teachers‟ job satisfaction,
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6. since teachers could have felt forced to work in remote settings. Such sample
identification was not specified in the study.
The method of collecting data in Study 2 showed a stratified sampling method
where samples were selected based on teaching level, sex and geographical
locations. The interviewees were also willing participants who totalled 20 teachers in
various towns in the Yukon Territory. The ethnicities of the teachers however were
not disclosed. Even though a random method of sampling was utilized, samples
were small, and therefore limit the population generalizability. Also every
characteristic of the interviewees were not recorded completely which thus makes it
less ecologically generalizable. Once such characteristic that could have been
looked at is ethnicity of teachers, since representative of how other ethnicities may
view stress in different work settings could be an interesting angle to research.
Findings and Analyses
Teachers‟ self and collective efficacies were measured using a TSES scale,
with a 12-item survey using a 9-point measure Likert scale;1= Disagree strongly,
3=disagree, 5=neutral, 7=agree and 9=agree strongly. Such scale has provided
reliable and valid results in previous studies since it has successfully transcended
cultural settings, thus being appropriate for this study. Thus reliability and validity of
the TSES scale was highlighted as acceptable. Job stress and factors leading to
stress were measured using 1 and 7 items respectively. Job satisfaction on the other
hand was represented using 4 items, with one specifically addressing location. The
data collected produced a composite value, due to the small sample sizes and the
study also included the reliability coefficient for both samples. It can be noted that
Yukon sample displayed low reliability coeffiency at ( This would imply that
there could be low reliability. Perhaps this could be because samples taken with
matching subgroups were perhaps too low. However, an ANOVA was carried out to
check for significant difference against the dependant variable, job satisfaction and
no significant difference was found, or too minimal a difference for data on self-
efficacy, collective efficacy and stress from work load.
In addition, this was justified because, a Fisher-Z transformation were applied
and showed no significant difference in correlation coefficients. Thus there was no
big difference between the two samples; in Yukon Territory and Western Canada.
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7. Interestingly enough it could also be said that when job satisfaction was taken as the
dependant variable and a correlation was seeked between job satisfaction and
stress, efficacy beliefs; a Chow test revealed that there was also no directionality,
which means that it is not pointing to precession of stress or efficacy beliefs as
precursors to job satisfaction. Furthermore, to test for statistical relialibility of the
analysis, a Direct regression logistic regression analysis was carried out to rule out
incorrect identification of groups. The study successfully established groups that
were high stress groups and low stress groups at 64.3% and 76.3 % respectively,
making the results statistically sound.
On the other hand, study 2 was collected via stratified sampling from a group
of participants that had stated their willingness to be interviewed. Although the
samples were carefully selected to ensure representativeness of the target group, it
can be argued that the sample of 20 was relatively small. This could be a strong
argument against generalizing such a study. Characteristics of interview groups
however were chosen to mirror different subgroups of Yukon teachers. The
interview procedure included field notes, interview protocol, and non-static
conversations which were re-checked and monitored over a period of two years. This
ensured that the reoccurring themes and ideas could be properly validated . The
content analysis content was two stages, where the themes were coded using
coded frequency check and also endorsement by the interviewee to verify what they
had said. The three general overlapping themes were
Theme 1: Physical and human geography influence job stress and job
satisfaction
Theme 2:Building connections with the community leads to teaching
satisfaction
Theme 3: Cultural transitions in the community leads to teacher‟s professional
stress.
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8. Discussion
Overall it can be said that this study can shed light on teachers‟ roles in small far-off
communities and remote areas and how career decisions as well as teacher
motivation can be promoted on a large scale. It is interesting to note that according
to the quantitative findings the study showed no significant difference between the
stress levels and motivation beliefs between teachers teaching in Yukon Territory
and Western Canada, although there were findings that showed a slightly lower
sense of self and collective efficacy and workload stress among Yukon teachers.
Also, when the qualitative data was collected to probe into the types of stress that
affected a teacher's job stress and satisfaction, an intricate set of factors were
revealed. It proved that job stress and satisfaction were to a certain degree affected
by the community and setting in which teachers lived in and many issues were at
play when teachers were placed in remote settings. Some of the factors lie in the
unique physical geography of Yukon. Since winters are long and daylight is limited
in, some teachers reported that it could have an immense psychological effect on a
person. The setting is also very far and removed from other parts of Canada, so this
could impact one‟s professional development since training and resources were
limited. Additionally human geography is a major factor in locations which have
larger First Nation communities. Since First Nation communities were not necessarily
cooperative to schools and accepting of European-Canadian culture, this may
reduce teachers‟ motivation and increase stress levels. This is especially so when
tribal leaders and parents felt that the curriculum did not meet their community
needs. Therefore, owing to this, an increase sense of isolation was felt among
teachers and an increase pressure was felt. Nonetheless, over time, when teachers
gradually integrated into the community, reached out to the parents, a renewed
sense of belonging developed. It was mentioned that it was important for teachers to
respect the culture and views of the community in order to fully understand the
people.
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9. Comments
On the whole I felt that the study could not conclusively state the factors that
influence Yukon teachers‟ self and collective efficacy although it was successful in
proving that teachers regardless of their location, felt that workload stress goes hand
in hand with the teaching profession. The implications of the study are that the stress
factors and motivation beliefs of teachers in the Yukon are markedly different from
the comparison group and also perceived differently by teachers. It would thus
benefit future studies to further explore these differences to possibly help in career
decisions. The study doesn‟t indicate if there are immersion programmes that may
help teachers‟ to adjust to remote settings, and this could have been included in the
study as ways and methods to counter teacher isolation issues.
So in general, I believe this article can provide insight for teachers and school
administrators alike on the placement of teachers in remote settings and how to
possibly increase the morale of teachers placed in locations foreign to their own. The
general benefits of the study can possibly be applied to remote settings in Malaysia
too, since many teachers are also sent to rural villages to teach. Nevertheless, as
mentioned earlier, the study is limited in its generalizability as the study only covered
a small scope.
The study definitely carries a lot of value and is well written. The method was
also clear with very direct explanation of biasness, and limitations on the findings.
Most of the threats to validity were also addressed in the article and I consider the
issues to be covered in a detailed way. I would have liked to understand the different
factors that affect teachers‟ job stress and satisfaction, and thus would like to have
seen suggestions and comments from the authors, on how to combat these issues.
Perhaps a good approach would be to introduce teacher-training programmes and
immersion training. Without a definitive guide on how to overcome such stress, the
study does remain completely objective, but somewhat leaves the reader asking the
relevance of such a study.
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