Date
12-7-2023
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Janice Kooken
Keywords
Teacher Burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, Attrition
Disciplines
Education | Special Education and Teaching
Recommended Citation
Matthews, Kimberly D., "Teacher Burnout: A Causal-Comparative Study of Classroom Assignment" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5048.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5048
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine if there is a difference in teacher burnout among the classroom assignments of general education, special education self-contained, and special education resource/inclusion teachers teaching in sixth through 12th grade. Burnout continues to plague the education system. There is a sense of urgency in understanding how to address burnout as the NEA has reported a one-year increase from 37% to 55% of teachers considering leaving the education field. The sample for the current study consists of 57 middle school and high school core content teachers in three categories: general education, special education self-contained, and special education resource/inclusion. Maslach’s Burnout Inventory – Educator Survey (MBI-ES) and five questions from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 4A were administered through the online platform of Mind Garden. The MBI survey uses a 7-point frequency scale. The higher scores in the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization scales indicate higher burnout; the Personal Accomplishment scale uses reverse coding of lower scores associated with higher burnout. Results from the MANOVA indicated significant differences in the vector of burnout scores across the three teacher groups. The follow-up ANOVA results indicated a statistically significant difference between general education and special education resource/inclusion teachers in the burnout subscale of Emotional Exhaustion. Special education teachers indicated high levels of emotional exhaustion, while general education teachers indicated moderate levels. In conclusion, there was a difference in the burnout dimension of emotional exhaustion between general education and special education resource/inclusion teachers. Recommendations for further research include elementary teachers, multiple surveys in a school year, a larger sample, and years of experience as a covariate.
