Abstract:
What are the positive and negative work experiences reported by teachers, and how do these contribute to their quality of work life? This paper reports structural equation analyses conducted on questionnaire data obtained from 1,539 Victorian primary and secondary school teachers, as part of the evaluation of three organisational health programs. Drawing on Perceived Quality of Life research it was hypothesised that stress and morale would be separate outcomes of positive and negative work experiences. Results confirmed that stress and morale operate on different dimensions. Three structural equation models showed that positive experiences were stronger determinants of morale than stress, whereas negative experiences were stronger determinants of stress than morale. Stress and morale contributed equally to a teacher's overall quality of work life. When examined simultaneously it was found that positive experiences contributed only to morale whilst negative experiences contributed only to stress. These findings challenge conventional wisdom and suggest that it is not possible to enhance morale by reducing negative experiences, nor is it possible to reduce stress by focusing on positive experiences.