This article was downloaded by: [Monash University Library] On: 05 November 2014, At: 07:33 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Theory Into Practice Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/htip20 Teacher burnout: Moving beyond âpsychobabbleâ Richard L. Schwab a a Assistant professor of education , University of New Hampshire Published online: 05 Nov 2009. To cite this article: Richard L. Schwab (1983) Teacher burnout: Moving beyond âpsychobabbleâ, Theory Into Practice, 22:1, 21-26, DOI: 10.1080/00405848309543033 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405848309543033 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the âContentâ) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/htip20 http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/00405848309543033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405848309543033 http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Richard L. Schwab Teacher Burnout: Moving Beyond "Psychobabble" The "burnout backlash" has hit. Both educators and lay people are questioning the recent claims of "burnout experts." Among the more important questions being raised are: What is teacher burn- out? What does research indicate are the causes of teacher burnout? What can be done to curtail or control burnout? These questions are difficult to answer. Defining Burnout Lance Morrow's recent Time magazine edito- rial, "The Burnout of Almost Everybody," sum- marized most skeptics' feelings about burnout. "One of the biggest difficulties with the concept of burn- out is that it has become faddish and indiscriminate, an item of psychobabble, the psychic equivalent, in its ubiquitousness, of jogging. Burnout has no formal psychiatric status" (Morrow, 1981, p. 84). In some cases, Morrow's statement is correct. The word burnout has been abused. Many articles on teacher burnout have avoided the issue of clearly defining the term. Others have provided catchy def- initions based on limited case study or personal experience. Christina Maslach points out that most experts cannot even agree on how to spell it, "burn- out? burn-out? Burn-out? Burnout?" (Maslach, 1981, p. 110). Fortunately, not all work in burnout is psy- chobabble or based on personal opinion. Some recent research in human service and educational Richard L Schwab is assistant professor of education at the University of New Hampshire. organizations has systematically examined helpers' feelings about themselves, their clients, and their jobs in a variety of settings using the exploratory work of Maslach and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley (Gann, 1979; Jackson & Mas- lach, 1980; Maslach, 1976, 1978a, 1978b, 1979; Maslach & Jackson 1978, 1979, 1981a, 1981b; Maslach & Pines, 1977; Pines & Maslach, 1978). These studies indicate that people involved in pro- longed, constant, intensive interaction with people in an emotionally charged atmosphere are suscep- tible to the syndrome of burnout. This syndrome has three separate and distinct aspects. Maslach and Jackson (1981 a) classify these aspects as emo- tional exhaustion, negative attitudes toward clients, and loss of feeling of accomplishment on the job. Recent studies (Anderson, 1980; Crane, 1981; Iwanicki & Schwab, 1981; Mclntyre, 1981; Schwab, 1980; Schwab & Iwanicki, 1982a, 1982b) have ap- plied the research of Maslach and colleagues to the teaching profession. Each of these studies used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a valid and reliable instrument, to measure the three aspects of burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981a; Iwanicki & Schwab, 1981). Each aspect of burnout as it pertains to teachers is described in more detail in the following section. Aspects of Burnout Feelings of emotional exhaustion are a key aspect of the burnout syndrome. Teachers, after intensive interaction on a prolonged basis, find their emotional energies drained. Teachers soon realize they can no longer give of themselves as they were D ow nl oa de d by [ M on as h U ni ve rs ity L ib ra ry ] at 0 7: 33 0 5 N ov em be r 20 14 able to earlier in their careers. The following teach- ers' comments exemplify these feelings.1 I feel emotionally drained and fatigued at the end of the day, end of the week. It's to the point where I go through the motions. I can't get up for the job anymore. (Elementary teacher with 3 years of experience). My excitement for the job has worn off. When I first started teaching I couldn't wait for the next day to work with my students. Lately I would rather stay in bed because I'm beat. (High school teacher with 5 years of experi- ence). The second aspect of the burnout syndrome is depersonalization. Here the teacher develops negative cynical attitudes toward students. Teach- ers can convey such attitudes in many ways, in- cluding the use of derogatory labels. A junior high school teacher with 7 years of teaching experience displayed some feelings of depersonalization in the following statement. It is extremely stressful to try and remain calm, pleasant, ever encouraging, and supportive of cored/non-cored (cored refers to children who have individual education plans) who have a multiplicity of learning styles and outlooks from those who are all advanced placements to those who can't walk and chew gum, burn outs, or would be veggies simultaneously. As a reward for faithful service, I jump into a vehicleâgo to a poorly administered junior high schoolâdive in with the 9th grade beasties who are clutsie, insolent, or both. A third aspect of burnout is the loss of feeling of accomplishment from the job. This is extremely important in education, since teachers enter the profession not for financial reward, but because they feel they can help students. When teachers perceive themselves as no longer making a mean- ingful contribution through their work, they evaluate themselves negatively. The disheartening vtews of the following teachers describe these feelings: I feel no sense of appreciation for all that I do; I feel like I am wasting the best years of my life. (High school teacher with 8 years of ex- perience). I never have that great feeling of accomplish- ment. Teaching math at the seventh grade level does not offer much of a sense of triumph or feeling that you have done a great job, you really can't see or measure your results. Very frustrating. (46 year old junior high school teacher). It is important to understand that burnout as defined by Maslach and Jackson is a general term that describes the feelings of people in the helping professions who find that the stress involved in their work environment has altered their original feelings about themselves and their work. Teachers experiencing these feelings of burnout can have a detrimental effect on their colleagues, their stu- dents, and the reputation of the school where they work. Studies have suggested that people experi- encing burnout are more likely to leave their jobs, call in sick, increase their use of alcohol and drugs, and have family and marital conflicts (Jackson & Maslach, 1980; Maslach & Jackson, 1981a). Since the problems associated with burnout extend beyond the individual, organizations must work to mediate the problem. The key to achieving this is to carefully examine the stress factors, or Stressors, that can lead to these feelings of emo- tional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of accomplishment. Research in the helping profes- sions has identified potential Stressors that can lead to burnout. Recent work in education has built upon this work, and has begun to isolate potential sources of teacher burnout. Sources of Burnout Few would argue with the statement that teach- ing is an emotionally taxing profession. A teacher's day is filled with constant, intensive interaction with people. Teachers interact with students the most. In a study of student-teacher interaction, Jackson (1968) indicates that teachers can interact with stu- dents more than 1000 times during an average day. Students are not the only people with whom teach- ers must work on a given day. Administrators, other teachers, parents, school board members, and com- munity members consistently make demands on the energies of teachers. Since all teachers are involved in such situations, why do some exhibit feelings of burnout, while others do not? Recent studies have attempted to identify those teachers who have higher levels of burnout, and examine situational and in- dividual factors that contribute to these feelings. Building upon the work of Maslach and col- leagues, recent studies have examined the rela- tionships among background, individual personality, and organizational factors and the three aspects of teacher burnout. These studies have relied pri- marily on teacher questionnaires and are subject to the shortcomings of such instruments. Though 22 Theory Into Practice D ow nl oa de d by [ M on as h U ni ve rs ity L ib ra ry ] at 0 7: 33 0 5 N ov em be r 20 14 attempts have not been made to establish causality through these studies, the findings provide some interesting insights concerning the phenomenon of teacher burnout. One must keep in mind that sys- tematic research in teacher burnout is in the infant stage of development, and the results of the studies discussed in subsequent sections are by no means conclusive. In a study of 469 randomly selected Massa- chusetts teachers, Schwab and Iwanicki (1982a) found that certain personal and background vari- ables were related to levels of teacher burnout. Teachers did not differ in their feelings of burnout when they were classified according to the number of years they had taught; whether they taught in urban, suburban, or rural districts; if they were married, married with children, or single; or if they had a bachelor's, master's degree, or more than a master's degree. In contrast, when they were grouped according to their sex, grade level taught, and age, they differed. Age was found to be a factor in feelings of emotional exhaustion and fatigue. Younger teachers had more intense feelings than their older coun- terparts. These results were found for both regular educators (Anderson, 1980; Schwab & Iwanicki, 1982a) and special educators (Crane, 1981; Mc- Intyre, 1981). These results are consistent with find- ings in other human service occupations. (Cherniss, Egnatios, & Wacker 1976; Maslach & Jackson, 1981a). Sex and grade level taught were related to teachers' feelings of depersonalization. Male teach- ers were found to have more negative attitudes toward their students than females. High school and middle school/junior high school teachers had more negative attitudes toward their students than did elementary teachers (Schwab & Iwanicki, 1982a). Also, grade level taught was related to feelings of personal accomplishment on the job. Elementary teachers were found to have more frequent feelings of accomplishment than high school teachers. Anderson (1980), in a study of 459 classroom teachers from two districts in Connecticut, exam- ined the relationship between aspects of burnout and perceived needs deficiencies. Need deficiency refers to the discrepancy between what the indi- vidual perceives the organization is doing to foster his or her physiological, security, social, esteem, and self actualization needs and what the organi- zation should do to foster those needs. Anderson found that in organizations that did not enhance self actualization and esteem needs, teachers were more likely to exhibit feelings of burnout. Mclntyre (1981) examined the relationship be- tween teachers' locus of control and aspects of burnout. Mclntyre's study included 469 special ed- ucators from districts in Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. Teachers with an internal locus of control felt that they had control over events happening in their life. Externally oriented teachers felt that luck, fate, chance, or powerful others controlled events. Results of this study indicated that people with a more external locus of control evidenced more feel- ings of burnout than those with a more internal orientation. Two studies have examined the relationships between role conflict, role ambiguity, and perceived aspects of teacher burnout. Schwab and Iwanicki (1982b) examined the perceptions of 469 randomly selected classroom teachers from Massachusetts. Crane (1981) focused on the perceptions of 443 special education teachers from eight central cities in Connecticut. The concept of organizational stress, which is the combined effect of role conflict and role ambiguity, was based on the work of Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal (1964). Role conflict refers to the simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of inconsistent, expected role behaviors for a teacher's task or function. Role ambiguity is the lack of clear, consistent information regarding the rights, duties, and responsibilities of teaching and how they can best be performed. Both studies found that in organizations where high levels of role conflict and ambiguity were perceived to exist, teachers had more frequent and intense feel- ings of emotional exhaustion and negative attitudes toward students. Both studies also found that role conflict and ambiguity had a minor effect on feelings of accomplishment. In summary, the research to date indicates that factors leading to burnout can be related to indi- vidual personality characteristics and/or situational factors. Since establishing causality was beyond the scope of these studies, an explanation of why these findings occur can only be conjectural in nature. Future large scale studies need to continue to examine the relationships between organizational structures and aspects of burnout. Results of these studies can assist in improving organizational prac- tices. Smaller scale, more intensive collaborative action research studies can begin to uncover the causal factors affecting burnout on both the indi- vidual teacher and school level. Once causes have been identified, intervention programs to reduce burnout can be designed, implemented, and eval- uated. Volume XXII, Number 1 23 D ow nl oa de d by [ M on as h U ni ve rs ity L ib ra ry ] at 0 7: 33 0 5 N ov em be r 20 14 Toward Controlling Burnout The long-range goal of educational research is to improve the quality of education. The purposes of burnout research in education are to identify behaviors of burned out teachers, isolate the sit- uational or personal factors which contribute to this phenomenon, and design and evaluate strategies to control or remove those stress-producing situ- ations. The bottom line is to improve the quality of education by maintaining positive attitudes among teachers toward themselves, their work, and their students. In order to achieve these goals, practi- tioners and researchers must work together to ad- dress the many unanswered questions. We can begin to answer these questions by: (1) conducting large scale, longitudinal studies of organizational practices and burnout; (2) following up these studies with more focused collaborative action research designs; (3) using the results of these studies as the basis for planning intervention strategies on both the institutional and individual level; and (4) systematically evaluating these strategies to de- termine their effectiveness. Large-Scale Studies The studies in teacher burnout to date have been exploratory in nature and have depended upon survey examinations. These studies have provided valuable descriptive data, yet more work is needed to isolate stress caused by organizational practices in various settings. By looking at several districts in different socioeconomic and geographic areas, we can begin to determine how extensive the prob- lem really is, what factors appear to be the most crucial in predicting burnout, and if the feelings are transitory or terminal in nature. Previous studies in other helping professions have found that amount and variety of interactions with clients, number and duration of meetings, professional preparation, number of clients served, and social support sys- tems available are related to aspects of burnout (Maslach, 1978b; Pines & Maslach, 1978; Jackson & Maslach, 1980). These and other situations pre- viously found to cause dysfunctions in school or- ganizations need to be looked at in relation to aspects of teacher burnout. Once these studies identify the major stress factors, follow-up studies can focus on stress at the individual teacher and school level. One partic- ular methodology, collaborative action research, has potential to be effective in conducting these analy- ses. 24 Theory Into Practice Collaborative Action Research When large-scale studies identify situational factors that lead to burnout, follow-up studies could then begin to study how the interaction of person- ality and situational variables can lead to burnout. Smaller, more naturalistic research designs are nec- essary to examine this interaction. Collaborative action research methodologies bring trained re- searchers and practitioners together to conduct on- site research (Corey, 1953; Oja & Pine, 1981; Tikunoff, Ward, & Griffin, 1979). Collaborative action research can serve two purposes in studying the burnout phenomenon. First, it can provide insight into the way various situations can cause burnout in some cases, while not in others. This study can be conducted without the confounding effects of people outside the organi- zation coming in to do the research. In addition to helping us to better understand burnout, the results of such research could be useful in designing in- tervention programs. The second benefit from collaborative action research concerns the possible effects on the self esteem levels of teachers conducting such studies. In action research designs, teachers conduct the research with the assistance of trained researchers. Teachers are also co-authors on all articles that result from their investigations. This can present a new way for teachers to gain feelings of accom- plishment from their work. Institutional and Personal Level Interventions Although research in the area of burnout is not conclusive, studies in teaching and the helping professions have indicated burnout is a real prob- lem. These studies have also indicated that indi- vidual and situational factors are related to aspects of burnout. If intervention programs and organi- zational practices are going to be implemented or changed to combat burnout, they should address each aspect of emotional exhaustion, depersonal- ization, and feelings of accomplishment on both the individual and institutional levels. To date, this has not occurred. Most programs have focused on coping with stress on the individual level rather than addressing the environmental sit- uations that cause stress. In effect, educators have been led to believe burnout occurs because the teacher has inadequate coping mechanisms; there- fore, burnout is the individual's problem. The point has passed where we can continue to blame the individual teacher for developing feelings that any- one could develop if placed in a similar situation. D ow nl oa de d by [ M on as h U ni ve rs ity L ib ra ry ] at 0 7: 33 0 5 N ov em be r 20 14 Burnout cannot be alleviated until strategies are developed that confront the issues on the institu- tional as well as the individual level. To insure that strategies designed to alleviate burnout are successful, they must be systematically evaluated. Presently, research that examines the effectiveness of strategies to combat job stress on the individual and organizational level is lacking. Newman and Beehr (1979), in a review of literature in this area, conclude: "there is a definite lack of research in this domain. Very few of the purported strategies for handling job stress have been eval- uated with any scientific rigor" (p. 3). If future strategies use knowledge gained from current and suggested research in teacher burnout, we can begin to change this trend. By viewing burnout as a problem of the organization as well as of the individual experiencing the feelings, we can begin to solve the problem rather than live with it. Conclusion Education in the 1980s is faced with many challenges. Preventing and fighting teacher burnout is one of the most important. In order to face the challenges of this and future decades, we need teachers who maintain positive feelings about them- selves, their jobs, and their students. Only through continued examination of the burnout syndrome and development of intervention strategies based on what we learn from such examinations can we hope to find meaningful solutions. Note 1. The quotes used to describe burnout aspects were taken from surveys returned in the Schwab (1980) study of 469 randomly selected Massachusetts classroom teach- ers. References Anderson, M.G. A study of the differences among per- ceived need deficiencies, perceived burnout, and se- lect background variables for teachers. 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