Burnout among New Zealand Primary School Teachers

This study examined factors relating to levels of job burnout in a sample of 386 New Zealand teachers and principals at 47 Auckland North Shore primary schools. The results confirmed the construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1993) and showed that these teachers recorded significantly higher scores on the MBI emotional exhaustion sub-scale than a normative sample of United States teachers. The nature of these differences and implications of the findings for reducing work stress among teachers are discussed. Over the past three decades, increasing attention in the literature has been given to job-related stress and burnout in occupational settings. Indeed, numerous commentators have noted that job stress features significantly in the lives of many working adults (Maslach & Jackson (1993). Freudenberger (1974) and Maslach (1976) coined the term burnout to describe a particular kind of stress response experienced by those working in the helping professions, such as nurses, social workers, police officers and educators. Burnout refers to a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from involvement with people in emotionally demanding situations. A number of studies on burnout have focused specifically on the teaching profession due to the fact that this profession is one of the largest and most visible professions in society and a recognition of the extreme demands and pressures which teachers often confront (Whitehead & Ryba, 1995). Recent research has shown that a number of key school culture variables are associated with teacher burnout. These include: (1) increased drive for measurable goal achievement imposed on teachers by school administration; (2) the lack of trust in teachers' professional adequacy; (3) circumscribing school culture; and, (4) disagreeable physical environments to work in (Friedman, 1991). In New Zealand, educational reforms over the past decade have placed increased pressures on schools by requiring them to operate as self-managed organisations working under charter to the Ministry of Education. One effect of this is that school staff often have responsibilities for financial and resource management, as well as for the delivery of the curriculum to a specified standard. Schools are held accountable to the Ministry through a stringent evaluation process administered by the Education Review Office (Taskforce to Review Educational Administration, 1988). n the contex of primary education, another significant contributor to stress and burnout in New Zealand teachers has been the lack of qualified personnel available to teach and the increased workload thus placed on primary teachers. Teacher shortage has been the subject of much media debate concerning the resultant difficulties and personal stress this imposes on the profession. At the time of writing this paper, recruitment efforts have been made to staff primary school positions from overseas, yet many schools have been unable to find enough teachers to fill existing classroom vacancies. Recent studies of teacher stress literature in New Zealand by Manthei and Gilmore (1994) and Whitehead and Ryba (1995) have shown that levels of stress among teachers have increased since the 1980's and that teachers report being under increasingly high stress in their job. Results of these studies indicate that a substantial number of New Zealand teachers may well be experiencing burnout, a more extreme and intense form of stress, which, apart from having severe adverse effects on the teachers themselves, could significantly disadvantage students' growth and learning capacity. Burnout has been defined by Maslach and Jackson (1981,1986) as a tripartite syndrome comprising emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion, a core component of burnout, is characterised by fatigue and weariness that develop as emotional energies are drained. …