Measurement of Special Education Teachers' Burnout Levels (Tokat Example)
Journal Name:
- Eğitim Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi (EBAD)
Keywords (Original Language):
| Author Name | University of Author | Faculty of Author |
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Abstract (2. Language):
Introduction
Burnout was first conceptualized in the 1970s by Herbert Freudenberger to describe
the occupational depression experienced in service professions. Burnout is a condition
caused by failure, attrition, and loss of energy or diminished sense of accomplishment (Şahin
& Şahin, 2012). Burnout is a popular term used for the decline in physical energy that arises
following a chronic stress period related to work. This condition finds a place in the
literature due to its ubiquity and consequences (Tümkaya, 2000). Eren and Durna (2006) state
that burnout does not reflect a condition that individuals are in or not in at a certain time, but
rather it reflects a process.
The individual who experiences burnout is aware of a feeling of occupational
dissatisfaction and exhaustion. However, the difficulty of expressing such feelings and the
lack of apparent symptoms often causes this condition to be overlooked (Şahin & Şahin,
2012). Burnout is a result of work stress, and affects not only the individual experiencing it
but also on his/her colleagues and institution, the group he/she serves, and society as a whole
(Erçen, 2007). Because of this, burnout is no longer an individual problem but becomes a
societal issue in the teaching profession (Oruç, 2007).
Burnout is an important issue in education, particularly in the special education field.
Special education teachers experience many sources of stress in their work (Billingsely, 2004).
The heavy workload, unrealistic expectations regarding children’s development in the class,
poor self-perceptions of success, long hours of working with disabled children and feelings
of isolation cause frustration in teachers (Çokluk, 2001 cited in: Aydemir, 2013). The
characteristics of children, struggles with controlling the children, the difficulty of teaching
the subjects in special education, dissatisfaction with the teaching process, etc. cause burnout
among special education teachers (Oruç, 2007).
The problems occurring as a result of occupational burnout do not affect the teacher
only, but are also reflected to the students, the parents, the school, and the teacher’s
surroundings. This causes a decline in the quantity and quality of teaching-instruction
services, creating an obstacle in the education of already-disadvantaged special education
children. The study of this obstacle in terms of the right to education of disabled individuals
is important. The purpose of this study was to determine the burnout levels of special
education teachers according to some variables, and to discuss the condition of burnout in
the context of the right to education of individuals with special needs.
Method
A survey model was used in the study to present the burnout levels of teachers
working with individuals with special needs at special education institutions in terms of
different variables because it is best suited to the descriptive nature of the study. As Karasar
(2008) notes, “Descriptive survey models are the research approaches which aim to describe a past or present situation in its original state”. The population of the study consists of 83
teachers working at special education application centers and occupational application
centers serving mentally disabled individuals in Tokat in October 2013. Data were collected
from all of the five institutions in the province. The study included teachers who agreed to
fill out the questionnaires. The study utilized, as data collection tools, the Individual
Information Form and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The Individual Information Form
was produced by the researcher to obtain information about the independent variables. The
Maslach Burnout Inventory, developed by Maslach and Jackson (1981), was adapted to
Turkish by Ergin (1992). The Maslach Burnout Inventory has three domains and consists of
22 items. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS 13.0 for Windows package
program. For the discriminant analysis, the non-parametric Mann Whitney U-Test for binary
groups and Kruskal Wallis H-Test for groups of three or more were used.
Findings and Results
While no significant differences were observed in the Emotional Burnout or
Depersonalization subdomains according to the genders of the teachers, there was a
significant difference in the Personal Achievement subdomain. The mean rank scores of
males were higher in the Personal Achievement subdomain compared to females. This
finding reveals that females experience higher burnout than males in the Personal
Achievement subdomain.
In the analysis done with the age variable, there were no statistically significant
differences in the Emotional Burnout or Depersonalization subdomains, but a difference
again appeared in the Personal Achievement subdomain. In the mean ranks, the highest
score in Personal Achievement was among the teachers above age 43, followed by the groups
of teachers ages 31-42 and 23-30. In the Depersonalization subdomain, there was a negative
correlation between age and depersonalization. This result reveals that younger teachers
experience greater burnout than older teachers.
According to the analysis related to professional seniority, while there were no
significant differences in the Depersonalization or Personal Achievement subdomains, a
difference was observed in the Emotional Burnout subdomain. When the mean ranks are
considered, the highest score was in the teachers with professional seniority greater than 11
years, followed by the teachers with professional seniority of 3-6 years, 7-10 years, and 1-2
years, respectively. These results show teachers with more professional seniority experience
greater burnout within the Depersonalization subdomain.
In the analysis performed with the branch variable, no statistically significant
differences were observed in the Emotional Burnout or Personal Achievement subdomains,
while difference was observed in the Depersonalization subdomain. The highest score in the
mean ranks was in the teachers who were classroom teachers of the mentally disabled,
followed by classroom teachers and branch teachers. This shows that in the
Depersonalization subdomain, classroom teachers of the mentally disabled experience
greater burnout than classroom and branch teachers.
This study reveals a need for more in-depth qualitative studies about the execution of
the right to education of individuals who are in need of special education, and about the
burnout levels of teachers in the context of the right to education. There is also a need for
comparative studies that examine the burnout levels of special education teachers and
teachers working at regular schools.
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Abstract (Original Language):
Bu çalışmanın amacı zihin engelli bireylerle çalışan öğretmenlerin yaşamış oldukları tükenmişliğin bazı değişkenlere göre belirlenmesi ve yaşanan tükenmişlik durumunun zihin engelli bireylerin eğitim hakkı bağlamında tartışılmasıdır. Araştırmada veriler “Maslach Tükenmişlik Ölçeği” kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Veriler Tokat il ve ilçelerindeki kamuya ait 5 özel eğitim uygulama merkezi ve iş uygulama merkezinde çalışan 83 öğretmenden elde edilmiştir. Maslach Tükenmişlik Ölçeğinden elde edilen puanlara ilişkin olarak tükenmişlik alt ölçek puanları açısından zihin engelli bireylerle çalışan öğretmenlerinin demografik değişkenlerine bağlı farklılaşmanın olup olmadığını değerlendirmek için nonparametrik testlerden ikili gruplar için Mann-Whitney U testi, üç veya daha fazla grup için ise Kruskal-Wallis H testi uygulanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda zihin engelli bireylerle çalışan öğretmenlerin cinsiyet, yaş, mesleki kıdem, branş ve mezun oldukları program değişkenlerine göre ölçeğin alt ölçek boyutlarında anlamlı farklılıklar olduğu, medeni durum değişkeni altında anlamlı bir farklılık olmadığı bulunmuştur.
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