Work significantly affects human life and health. Modernisation, along with advantages, also has disadvantages and its own price. It is accompanied by constantly growing stress in all spheres of life. Long-lasting and strong stress results in professional burnout, destroys working motivation and the sense of happiness and luck in life. In that case, the productivity and the quality of service decrease, which induces a great economic damage.
Today, our society and school are looking for the most effective means of implementing the ever-increasing changes in the education system. Special attention is paid to teacher’s profession and personality and specific requirements for the teacher. This causes permanent emotional tension that can lead to teachers’ burnout at work. The studies show that the employees, the essence and content of work of which are frequent and intensive contacts with other people (medical doctors, pedagogues, social workers, managers, etc.) experience strong psychical load, which eventually manifests in emotional distress, loss of interest in the activities, disruptions in communication and deteriorating physical state.
The work stress of a teacher is determined by the specific circumstances of this position and the corresponding workplace. A teacher’s working day usually does not end after leaving the school and the office. The burden of never-ending work and professional worries is inevitably carried by the teacher into the private environment, on days off and even on a teacher’s holyday. It is often much more difficult for a teacher than for representatives of many other professions to combine professional and family roles.
Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long- term exhaustion and diminished interest. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands.
Burn-out is included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. It is not classified as a medical condition.
It is described in the chapter: ‘Factors influencing health status or contact with health services’ – which includes reasons for which people contact health services but that are not classed as illnesses or health conditions.
Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life (WHO).
In a chart below, you can see the main differences between burnout and stress:
| Stress | Burnout |
| Characterized by overengagement | Characterized by disengagement |
| Emotions are overreactive | Emotions are blunted |
| Produces urgency and hyperactivity | Produces helplessness and hopelessness |
| Loss of energy | Loss of motivation, ideals, and hope |
| Leads to anxiety disorders | Leads to detachment and depression |
| Primary damage is physical | Primary damage is emotional |
| May kill you prematurely | May make life seem not worth living |
| Work-related causes of burnout | Lifestyle causes of burnout | Personality traits can contribute to burnout |
| Feeling like you have little or no control over your work. | Working too much, without enough time for relaxing and socializing | Perfectionistic tendencies; nothing is ever good enough |
| Lack of recognition or rewards for good work | Being expected to be too many things to too many people | Pessimistic view of yourself and the world |
| Unclear or overly demanding job expectations | Taking on too many responsibilities, without enough help from others | The need to be in control; reluctance to delegate to others |
| Doing work that’s monotonous or unchallenging | Not getting enough sleep | High-achieving, Type A personality |
| Working in a chaotic or high-pressure environment | Lack of close, supportive relationships |
Supriya Jha (2012)
Burnout is a gradual process that occurs over an extended period of time. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can creep up on you if you’re not paying attention to the warning signals. The signs and symptoms of burnout are subtle at first, but they get worse and worse as time goes on. Think of the early symptoms of burnout as warning signs or red flags that something is wrong that needs to be addressed. If workers pay attention to these early warning signs, they can prevent a major breakdown. If people ignore them, they eventually burn out.
| Physical signs and symptoms of burnout | Physical signs and symptoms of burnout | Physical signs and symptoms of burnout |
| Feeling tired and drained most of the time | Sense of failure and self-doubt | Withdrawing from responsibilities |
| Lowered immunity, feeling sick a lot | Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated | Isolating yourself from others |
| Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches | Detachment, feeling alone in the world | Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done |
| Change in appetite or sleep habits | Loss of motivation | Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope |
| Increasingly cynical and negative outlook | Taking out your frustrations on others | |
| Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment | Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early |
Supriya Jha (2012)
The research disclosed that special education teachers more frequently experience emotional exhaustion. The research also demonstrated that self-oriented perfectionism correlates with all the scales of job burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). A multivariate regression analysis showed that such variables as self-oriented perfectionism and age predict 60.3 percent of emotional exhaustion variation (Navaitienė; Danilovienė, 2017).
Even when teachers experiencing burnout stay on, students pay a price. Teachers overwhelmed by stress use less effective teacher strategies. This affects the clarity of their instruction and classroom management. It also results in less stimulating classroom environments. A study in the Journal of Educational Psychology found that teachers experiencing burnout at the beginning of the school year had notably worse classroom management by the spring than other teachers. Their classrooms also suffered from significant student disruptions.
Bubelienė, Merkys (2013) in their research names the further directions of relevant research. It focuses a discussion and recommendations: a) to develop focuses on educational environments in higher education, which would allow to form a hobby for future specialists, b) to develop the recreational infrastructure at universities and schools as in socially responsible organizations, c) to give the status of public value to teachers’ leisure organization and to support this activity.
Teachers who have a hobby and are regularly engaged in it have significantly less expressed symptoms of burnout than those who have no hobbies at all or do have but are little involved in it or are engaged in a hobby very rarely (Bubelienė, Merkys, 2013).
The act of teaching is giving opportunities, ideas, knowledge, and guidance to students. But teacher can’t do this effectively if they are running on empty. Teacher should take care of their needs, balance their life for optimum health, and regularly check in on their own mental wellness. That’s the best system for beating burnout—or avoiding it entirely!
Professional BURN OUT prevention
BIBLIOGRAPHY (Lithuania)
Literatūros sąrašas: (List of literature)
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