No abstract

Teacher burnout occurs when teachers undergoing stress for long periods of time experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment (Maslach, 2003). Outcomes associated with burnout include teacher attrition, teacher health issues, and negative student outcomes. Special educators are at high risk for burnout as their working conditions align with many factors associated with burnout. In this review, we updated the literature on special education teacher working conditions by reviewing studies (N = 23) that (a) included a quantitative measure of burnout and (b) focused on special education teachers as participants. An analysis of the studies reviewed provided a clear base of support for the association between burnout and a range of variables from the individual, classroom, school, and district levels. Bronfenbrenner's (1977) Ecological Model supplied the organizational framework for the range of variables. Teacher experience, student disability, role conflict, role ambiguity, and administrative support were particularly salient factors in special education teacher burnout. Important gaps in the research are discussed, future directions for researchers are outlined, and implications for teachers and other practitioners are provided.

VEDA BROWN ConsultantTeachers in U.S. schools report high rates of victimization, yet previous studies focus on select types of victimization and student perpetrators, which may underestimate the extent of the problem. This national study was based on work conducted by the American Psychological Association Classroom Violence Directed Against Teachers Task Force and is one of the few national studies to examine violence directed at teachers. Participants included 2,998 kindergarten through 12 th -grade (K-12) teachers from 48 states who completed an anonymous web-based survey assessing their experiences with victimization. Results revealed that 80% of teachers reported at least one victimization, and of these teachers, 94% reported being victimized by students. Nearly three-fourths of all teachers experienced at least one harassment offense, more than half experienced property offenses, and 44% reported physical attacks. Findings suggest that specific teacher and community characteristics are associated with a higher likelihood of victimization, namely, male gender and urban settings; whereas, African American teachers were less likely to report victimization. Implications for teacher training, school interventions, public policy, and future research are discussed. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.School violence has emerged as a significant public health crisis warranting immediate attention. Nationally, 11% of high school students report being in a fight, 8% report being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, and 6% report carrying a weapon on school property in the past This study was based on the

Violence directed against K-12 teachers is a serious problem that demands the immediate attention of researchers, providers of teacher pre-service and in-service training, school administrators, community leaders, and policymakers. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted on this growing problem despite the broad impact teacher victimization can have on schooling, recruitment, and retention of highly effective teachers and on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Psychologists should play a leadership role in mitigating school violence, including violence directed toward teachers. There is a need for psychologists to conduct research accurately assessing the types and scope of violence that teachers experience; to comprehensively evaluate the individual, classroom, school, community, institutional, and cultural contextual factors that might predict and/or explain types of teacher violence; and to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of classroom, school, and district-wide prevention and intervention strategies that target teacher violence in school systems. Collectively, the work of psychologists in this area could have a substantial impact on schooling, teacher experience and retention, and overall student performance.

No abstract