Early Childhood Teachers Burn-out Syndrome

Institutionalization of early childhood education has increased the importance of quality issues. Education and care in the kindergarten cannot be achieved without social education in the institution. Social dimension of the... [ view full abstract ]

Institutionalization of early childhood education has increased the importance of quality issues. Education and care in the kindergarten cannot be achieved without social education in the institution. Social dimension of the institution creates the overall atmosphere of the institution. All of these are preschool teachers’ responsibilities. The quality of the kindergarten depends on teachers' professional development, competence and behavioural style (positive and negative). Preschool teachers have the obligation of continuous professional development. In order to achieve quality within the institution it is presumed that teachers need to recognize and understand their negative behaviour. Negative behaviour and stress can lead to a burnout syndrome which should be taken very seriously. Burnout syndrome appears in three dimensions in which the preschool teacher feels emotionally exhausted, depersonalized and has a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.

Empirical research was conducted on 456 preschool teachers from all over the country of Croatia. The aim of the research was to determine how age, years of service and level of education affect the occurrence/intensity of burnout syndrome and whether there are indicators of the degree of burnout that may appear with Croatian preschool teachers. In this study we used a scale for measuring burnout (MBI-NL-ES, Schaufeli, Daamen and Van Mierlo, in 1994, developed according to MBI - ES, Maslach and Jackson, 1986). The analyzed results showed that the personal characteristics of the individual (biographical features) and their assessment may cause burnout that can be observed in the three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment.

Keywords: educator, burnout syndrome, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, feeling of personal achievement