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This study examined factors relating to levels of job burnout in a sample of 386 New Zealand teachers and principals at 47 Auckland North Shore primary schools. The results confirmed the construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1993) and showed that these teachers recorded significantly higher scores on the MBI emotional exhaustion subscale than a normative sample of United States teachers. The nature of these differences and implications of the findings for reducing work stress among teachers are discussed.
Over the past three decades, increasing attention in the literature has been given to job-related stress and burnout in occupational settings. Indeed, numerous commentators have noted that job stress features significantly in the lives of many working adults (Maslach & Jackson (1993). Freudenberger (1974) and Maslach (1976) coined the term burnout to describe a particular kind of stress response experienced by those working in the helping professions, such as nurses, social workers, police officers and educators. Burnout refers to a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from involvement with people in emotionally demanding situations. A number of studies on burnout have focused specifically on the teaching profession due to the fact that this profession is one of the largest and most visible professions in society and a recognition of the extreme demands and pressures which teachers often confront (Whitehead & Ryba, 1995).
Recent research has shown that a number of key school culture variables are associated with teacher burnout. These include: (1) increased drive for measurable goal achievement imposed on teachers by school administration; (2) the lack of trust in teachers' professional adequacy; (3) circumscribing school culture; and, (4) disagreeable physical environments to work in (Friedman, 1991). In New Zealand, educational reforms over the past decade have placed increased pressures on schools by requiring them to operate as self-managed organisations working under charter to the Ministry of Education. One effect of this is that school staff often have responsibilities for financial and resource management, as well as for the delivery of the curriculum to a specified standard. Schools are held accountable to the Ministry through a stringent evaluation process administered by the Education Review Office (Taskforce to Review Educational Administration, 1988).
In the context of primary education,...