Burnout among Primary and Secondary School Teachers in Samarahan District

Abstract

Burnout phenomenon in the teaching career is worth given a fair attention because if left unchecked, it can lead to detrimental effects on teachers, students and the teaching career itself. This study aims to discover the burnout level of primary and secondary school teachers in Samarahan District as measured by their scores on Emotional Exhaustion, Physical Exhaustion, Depersonalisation and Reduced Personal Accomplishment items. Besides, it also aims to find out whether significant relationships exist between teacher burnout dimensions and teachers" period of service, subject option and the school setting. Fifty teachers were randomly selected as sample and a Survey design using a questionnaire was employed as a data collection tool in this study. The questionnaire was adapted from Maslach Burnout Inventory (1982) focusing mainly on 4 categories of teacher burnout symptoms. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were employed for its data analysis. It was found that the teachers of the two schools had a moderate level of burnout. In contrast with past findings, it was also found that the teachers" subject option and the school setting did not have any significant relationship with teacher burnout. However, the teachers" period of service had a significant relationship with teacher burnout which ascertained the results of past studies. Recommendations were made for future research.