Abstract
As many studies show, teaching is a highly stressful occupation (Johnson et al., 2005). Therefore a burnout syndrome is highly prevalent among teachers.
Burnout is defined as a deep and permanent exhaustion with many emotional, physical, cognitive and social symptoms, resulting from long-term occupational stress, particularly in occupations with incessant human interactions and high responsibility for others (Brouwers & Tomic, 2000; Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996). Based on some studies, the crucial role in developing of burnout syndrome has a teacher's self-efficacy (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007).
According to social cognitive theory, teacher's self-efficacy can be defined as teacher's beliefs in his/her own ability to plan, organize, and carry out different educational activities that are essential for achieving teaching goals. It affects how teachers perceive opportunities and obstacles presented by their environment and how much effort and what activities are they willing to invest in overcoming these obstacles (Pajares, 1997; Bandura, 2006).
Several studies confirmed a moderate correlation between the teachers' self-efficacy and burnout. Chwalisz, Altmaier and Russell (1992) found that teachers who scored low in self-efficacy reported a higher degree of burnout unlike the teachers with high self-efficacy scores.
Brouwers and Tomic (2000) showed that self-efficacy has a longitudinal effect on depersonalization and a synchronous effect on personal accomplishment, while the direction was reverse for the relationship between self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion. Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2007) found a strong relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and burnout, and specifically for emotional exhaustion (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2014).
Even though, there has not been enough empirical evidence gathered to confirm protective function of self-efficacy and provide explanation how the connection between self-efficacy and burnout avoidance works. More studies on this issue, especially with respect to different educational systems, are needed to understand the precise mechanism underlying the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and teachers' burnout.
Therefore, our study focuses mainly on examining the relationship between the burnout syndrome and teacher self-efficacy and its dimensions. Our research was designed as mix-methodology, including quantitative survey (N=2394) and case studies at 13 grammar schools (N=232).
In survey, a correlation design was used with two instruments: 1) Shirom-Melamed Burnout Scale, 2) Czech Teachers Self-efficacy Scale (developed within the study - more information see bellow). Both instruments showed good reliability measured by Chronbach's Alpha (over .9) and other acceptable psychometrics.
The Czech Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (CTSES) includes 45 items measured on a 5-point scale ranging from "never" to "always". Each item starts with a formulation: "I am convinced that I can do..." and the particular professional skill follows.
The content of items resulted from analysis of the Czech national educational documents and the previous findings about the competencies needed in the Czech schools. The instrument was developed through a qualitative and quantitative study and later piloted in quantitative study.
The CTSES consists of six subscales: Pedagogical Approach, Student Diversity, Collaboration with Parents, Discipline, Influence on School Management, Cooperation among Teachers and Professional Development. The factor structure of the 45-item CTSES by means of exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation and eigenvalues was greater than 1.
The analysis extracted six factors consistent with the theoretical model of teacher self-efficacy subscales. These factors explained 56% of the variance in the equation.
Expected factor loadings were greater than .6 for the thirty-eight items, while no factor loadings were less than .3. The identified subscales loosely correspond to six dimensions of teacher self-efficacy defined by Skaalviks (2007) and seven dimensions defined by Bandura (2006).
However, the items of CTSES respect specific features of the Czech educational system in terms of organization and terminology. The data shape measured by kurtosis and skewness for all items showed a normal distribution.
The correlation between teacher burnout syndrome and teacher self-efficacy was -.293 which means that teachers with high self-efficacy scored low in burnout symptoms and vice versa. All three dimensions of burnout syndrome show a significant negative correlation with teacher self-efficacy.
However, the strongest value was found for emotional dimension (-.375). Teachers with high self-efficacy scored low in emotional burnout which has the most negative impact on relationships between teachers and students and thus on students' well-being in schools.
The correlations between score in burnout scale and self-efficacy subscales vary between -.2 and -.3. Detailed results of intercorrelation analysis will be present.
We conclude that more attention should be paid to the burnout syndrome as a multidimensional construct. Our intercorrelation analysis shows that emotional burnout works differently than the two other burnout dimensions and that it is closely linked to self-efficacy.
Emotional burnout shows the weakest correlation with the total burnout scale and its subscales and, at the same time, the strongest correlation with the total self-efficacy scale. It indicates that emotional burnout represents a specific type of burnout which is closely linked to the capacity for emotional regulation and thus, to teachers' beliefs.
In the paper, we discussed the implications for teacher training and further education.