Exploring mental health awareness and the well-being of secondary school teachers working in under-resourced rural schools in Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga.

Abstract

South African rural secondary schools provide a particularly unique environment. They are under-resourced, overcrowded and continuously marred by violent actions from the learners. The study aimed to explore mental health awareness and well-being of secondary school teachers working in under-resourced rural secondary schools in Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga Province, and the impact that mental health might have on teacher performance. This was a qualitative study, which adopted an explorative design. A purposive sample of nine teachers from two secondary schools, with five participants from school A and four participants from school B, which are schools in Shatale circuit, Bushbuckridge, was interviewed. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants highlighted various factors contributing to the mental health of teachers working in under-resourced rural schools, which are culture, heredity, the teachers’ past experiences, workload, limited support, limited resources, and the different roles that teachers play, including care giving, role modelling and facilitating. All these have an impact on the mental health of teachers and influence their wok performance. It became evident in this study that the teachers’ understanding of mental health was associated with environmental factors and biological factors. The participants’ understanding of mental health revolved on how a person behaves or reacts to situations and to a particular problem. The research findings further elicited the need to prioritise the mental health of teachers in rural schools. Interventions, including workshops and seminars, should be organised regularly in rural schools to increase teachers’ awareness of the importance of mental health. Thus, an Employee Assistant Program (EAP) should be established for public school teachers, who are facing various challenges that impact on their mental health, and thus affecting their work performance.