Development of Items to Measure Work Stress among Secondary School Teachers in Sarawak: An Exploratory Factor Analysis Procedure

Abstract

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable survey instrument to measure teacher work stress based on Boyle et al.’s (1995) model using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The instrument comprises five key components: workload, student misconduct, professional recognition needs, time and resource constraints, and colleague relationship weaknesses. Data were collected from 200 teachers in five secondary schools in Sarawak, analyzed using IBM SPSS 27.0 with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Varimax rotation. Out of 35 items, 9 were removed due to low factor loadings, ensuring the remaining 26 met validity and reliability criteria. The findings provide insights into teacher stress factors, supporting the Malaysian Ministry of Education in developing effective interventions. This study contributes a contextually relevant, empirically validated tool for assessing teacher stress, informing policy and practice in Malaysian education.