Teacher Burnout


Book Description

With school reform and teacher accountability on the forefront of the educational landscape, attention has turned to investigating why so many teachers leave the profession after a relatively short time. Burnout is often cited as a major contributor to this teacher exodus. While many studies have focused on teacher burnout relative to the specific tasks that teachers perform and on the populations they serve, there is no research on how teacher burnout differs between Title I and non-Title I schools in an urban school district in Virginia. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to investigate if teachers’ perceptions of burnout including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, differ between the two types of schools in a single school district. The sample, 145 elementary teachers from Title I and non-Title I schools, voluntarily completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educators Survey (MBI-ES) through SurveyMonkey® online. Results from the self-reported instrument were analyzed for significant statistical differences between scores in the areas of personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization between the Title I and non-Title I teachers using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results indicated that there is no statistical difference in teachers’ perception of overall burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment between the Title I and non-Title I school teachers in this urban school district in Virginia. Keywords: teacher burnout, teacher attrition, Title I, accountability, school reform.







A Causal-comparative Study of Burnout Among Rural Elementary, Middle, and High School Teachers


Book Description

There is a prevalent shortage of school teachers in the United States. Teacher burnout is a chronic issue that plagues school districts. Burnout is one of the primary causes of teachers leaving the profession altogether. The purpose of this study was to determine differences of burnout among elementary, middle, and high school teachers in a rural area. A gap in literature was addressed by comparing the burnout levels of teachers in a rural school district across all grade levels. The chosen research design for this study was a causal-comparative design. The independent variable was teachers’ grade across three levels (elementary, middle, and high school) in a rural area. The dependent variables for the research questions were emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. The Maslach Burnout Inventory Educator Survey (MBI-ES) was used to measure the dependent variables of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment of educators and those who work in school settings. The survey was given to 126 participants who were selected from a convenience sample of rural educators in a Southeast Tennessee school district. One-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni corrections were used to determine differences of burnout among the three groups of educators. Results revealed no significant differences in burnout, measured as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, present among rural elementary, middle, and high school teachers.




A Causal Comparative Study of Burnout Among Public and Charter Elementary School Teachers in North Carolina


Book Description

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference between the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) scores of traditional public school teachers and those of public charter school teachers as measured by the three subscale levels of exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. A sample of 138 teachers from two school districts in North Carolina participated in this study by completing a demographic questionnaire and the MBI-ES. The total number of public schools in both districts totaled 118 and over 10 charter schools. The overall results of the independent t-tests indicate that there is no significant difference between traditional public (TPS) teachers and public charter school (PCS) teacher’s burnout scores. However, based on the results included in this study, it can be concluded that both TPS teachers and PCS teachers experience a high level of self-esteem and a sense of achievement in the workplace. Public charter school teachers showed a slightly higher score on this subscale. Findings are presented and discussed with a recommendation that further research provides a robust and expansive study of the impact of teacher burnout on the mental well-being and sustainability of teachers in public, charter, and private school settings.







Stress in Teaching


Book Description







Emotion, Motivation, and Self-Regulation


Book Description

This handbook is a user-friendly resource for pre-service and new practicing teachers outlining theoretical models and empirical research findings concerning the nature and effects of emotions, motivation, and self-regulated learning for students and teachers alike.




A Predictive and Causal-comparative Analysis of Teacher Burnout and Emotional Empathy Among K-12 Public School Teachers


Book Description

Recent research has shown that teacher burnout is a contributing factor to many teachers leaving the field of education early on in their careers. Many teachers of all levels and subjects leave before ever reaching their full potential due to decreased job-satisfaction and the overwhelming symptoms of burnout crippling other areas of their life. Emotional exhaustion is a major component of burnout. Thus, emotional empathy may be related to teacher burnout. In this quantitative, correlational and causal-comparative study, the researcher examined the relationship between emotional empathy and teacher burnout among K-12 teachers. Further, the researcher investigated whether the relationship between emotional empathy and burnout was more significant among teachers of different instructional assignments. The researcher drew from a sample of 50 regular education and 50 special education teachers from five, rural school districts. Teachers completed a set of instruments: the Maslach Burnout MBI-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and The Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy (QMEE), via an online survey. Using a linear regression, the researcher examined the relationship between the participant scores on the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy and the participant scores on Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator’s Survey scores. Using an independent samples t-test, the researcher also compared the levels of burnout and empathy among regular education teachers and special education teachers. A significant relationship was found between emotional empathy and burnout among both regular education and special education teachers. There was no significant difference between emotional empathy or burnout scores of regular and special education teachers.