Causes leading Lebanese teachers to burnout. (c2014)

Abstract

Teaching is one of the most challenging professions due to different stressors teachers are exposed to sometimes leading to teachers’ burnout: a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Burnout effects range from psychological, physical, and behavioral symptoms to increased turnover. Teachers are not the only victims of burnout; students and the educational system as a whole are also affected by the syndrome. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the levels of burnout and the factors that may cause Lebanese teachers’ burnout by eliciting teachers’ perspectives about them. Multiple-case studies design is used in order to understand the causes of burnout from different perspectives. An interview, a questionnaire including an adapted version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educators Survey (MBI-ES), and a researcher’s reflective journal are used as instruments. Nine teachers who left the profession at least once during the first five years of experience were interviewed and ninety-two teachers who were still teaching during 2013-2014 responded to the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics are used to analyze the questionnaire data; qualitative analysis is used for the interviews and the researcher’s reflective journal. Qualitative analysis for each case is performed followed by a cross case synthesis. The latter is conducted to compare the data between cases in order to discover whether similarities can be found between different teachers. Triangulation of the findings is performed through comparing the findings from each instrument and identifying common categories that are used to address the research questions. Findings show that workload, school environment, coordination/mentoring, classroom environment, and emotional factors are major causes of burnout. Findings in this study were found to be parallel to the findings of several researchers; however, different causes of burnout were also found in terms of school and personal background, school and classroom environment, support, workload, and emotional factors. This study provided insight on how to identify causes and symptoms of teacher burnout in order to help prevent the occurrence of the syndrome.