Stress and burnout in teaching. Study in an inclusive school workplace.

Abstract

Background: Teaching is a profession associated with high levels of stress and burnout, affecting teachers' performance in the workplace. The main goal of the current study is to investigate stress and burnout conditions of teachers working presently in inclusive schools and the corresponding influence of personal variables.

Participants and procedure: Participants were 7086 regular teachers, or non-specialists, and 442 special education teachers, or specialists (N = 7528).

Results: Non-specialist teachers showed higher levels of burnout than specialist teachers in inclusive schools. Additionally, the results showed that higher levels of burnout are correlated with vulnerability to stress (perfectionism, inhibition, lack of social support, adverse living conditions, dramatization of existence and subjugation), in both groups of teachers. Non-specialists with more professional experience showed a high global score on burnout. In both groups, teachers with a higher level of training (academic degree and specialization) showed lesser vulnerability to stress, especially lower dependence. Concerning the predictors of burnout, vulnerability to stress played an important role as a predictor in both groups, suggesting that more vulnerable teachers are more prone to develop burnout, fatigue and exhaustion.

Conclusions: Stress emerges as an important predictor of burnout. Non-specialist teachers are more exposed to burnout and stress in an inclusive workplace, because they have to deal with new demands, requiring new resources, especially new professional skills. On the other hand, teachers with more academic and professional training show higher resilience to stress and more independence, suggesting the crucial value of training to improve an inclusive school workplace. Training can have an important impact on stress/burnout and consequently on the professional performance and efficacy of teachers in inclusive schools.