Burnout among Teachers in Higher Education: An Empirical Study of Higher Education Institutions in Portugal

Abstract

Burnout is considered by the World Health Organization an extreme response to cumulative and prolonged occupational stress, with teachers being among the professionals most affected by it. This disease influences physical and psychological well-being, negatively affecting the relationship between teachers and students. It also compromises the quality of teaching, thus inducing absenteeism and increasing professional abandonment. Our study examines the degree of incidence of Burnout affecting Professors from the Portuguese Higher Education Institutions. The first study was carried out on a sample of 520 teachers. A proportion of 41 (7.9%) Higher Education Teachers scored high on Burnout. A second phase of the study was conducted to gather data on socio-demographic and socio-professional characteristics of teachers affected by Burnout. The MBI (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and another questionnaire was built for this purpose and were used to collect the study data. The results indicate the majority of teachers affected by Burnout were female (63.4%). Most of them are between 40 and 59 years old (75.6%) and married (68.3%). Overall, 41.5% had 10 to 19 years of service and 39.0% between 20 and 29 years of service. The teachers with an undetermined contract (48.8%) and temporary contract (36.6%) displayed higher levels of Burnout, but the self-employment worker (4.9%) appears in a residual amount. Teachers most affected by Burnout are from Public Polytechnic Institutes (48.8%), followed by Public University teachers (41.5%). Teacher’s Burnout is a serious problem and should be considered by the Higher Education Institutions regarding the development of good teaching practice.

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