The Coping Orientation and Resources of Teachers Educating Learners with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Stress in the teaching profession is a well-recognized phenomenon and, in addition, research has found special education to be more demanding than mainstream education. A literature study to date revealed that international and South African research on special education teachers and their coping with stress is sparse. We therefore aimed to explore and describe the coping orientation and resources of teachers educating learners with intellectual disabilities. An exploratory, descriptive survey design was employed in the study. Antonovsky's Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) and Hammer and Mailing's Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was administered to 59 special education teachers in the Nelson Mandela Metropole, South Africa. Key findings revealed fairly high mean scores on the SOC-29 and average mean scores on the CRI. Significant positive correlations between the SOC-29 and the CRI total mean score and some of the subscale scores of the CRI were also evident.