A PROFESIONAL SKILL SET OF A TEACHER AND UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN RELATION TO THE CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF JOB BURNOUT

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A PROFESIONAL SKILL SET OF A TEACHER AND UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN RELATION TO THE CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF JOB BURNOUT

Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2015, Vol 67, Issue 10

Abstract

The term “burnout” exists in vernacular for centuries. By saying that something is burned we usually have in front of our eyes the image after a fre, that ash and rubble. However, nowadays burnout is a pictorial representation of what may remain after a large and fervent commitment to ones careers. Job is an important factor in life, it inﬂuences the existence beyond work. Thus, it is important to create the conditions of appropriate, harmonic, and effective work. In particular, the specifc features of the teaching profession are characterized by high workload and increasingly more complex requirements – the rush to keep up with the innovation, competitive pressure of the environment and continuous stress. This research aims to present an analysis of job burnout among teachers highlighting the risks and protective factors expressed by the potential “victims”, as well as the measures that can be taken to counteract. It also elaborates on personal and social factors which have an impact on occupational burnout issue among teachers in Poland. This study was undertaken because the problem has not been suffciently studied before in Poland, and too little attention was paid to the issues which the target group is facing. This background led to two theoretical assumptions, meaning that – regardless of the school type – all teachers are exposed to occupational burnout in the same way. The second theory claims that most of them do not realize the threat or are afraid to admit they have the symptoms resulting from job burnout. In order to confrm both theories, the author used qualitative and quantitative methods (interview and survey form) and the results were used to form a set of recommendations how to protect oneself from occupational burnout. The survey was conducted among 141 Polish teachers from primary, secondary and high schools, from two age groups – below 30 years old and over 46 years old. Special focus was placed on the age and inclination to exhaustion at work, lack of motivation and feeling of frustration, considering such factors like e.g. atmosphere at school and cooperation with students, other teachers and principals.The analysis showed that in most cases teachers within the scope of the research declared not to feel burnout. However, slightly less than a half of them admitted to operate under daily stress and in fact undergoing the process of the job burnout without even realizing it. The fndings of the research are important for the potential identifcation of an adequate and rapid prevention, which result is closely linked to better wellbeing and health of teachers who could be more successful and passionate about their work.

Authors and Affiliations

Magdalena Kugiejko

Keywords

EVALUATION OF THE CURRENT STATE IN 131 TEACHING INFORMATICS AT UPPER SECONDARY LEVEL OF EDUCATION (ISCED3) IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC: CONCEPTUAL AND METHODICAL STARTING POINTS

When considering the quality of education, one of the most important screening values is the information about students´ attitude towards the particular subject that on the one hand is determined by the character of th...

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