The term "burnout" exists in vernacular for centuries. By saying that something is burned we usually have in front of our eyes the image after a fire, that ash and rubble. However, nowadays burnout is a pictorial representation of what may remain after a large and fervent commitment to ones careers. Job is an important factor in life, it influences the existence beyond work. Thus, it is important to create the conditions of appropriate, harmonic, and effective work. In particular, the specific features of the teaching profession are characterized by high workload and increasingly more complex requirements – the rush to keep up with the innovation, competitive pressure of the environment and continuous stress.
This research aims to present an analysis of job burnout among teachers highlighting the risks and protective factors expressed by the potential "victims", as well as the measures that can be taken to counteract. It also elaborates on personal and social factors which have an impact on occupational burnout issue among teachers in Poland. This study was undertaken because the problem has not been sufficiently studied before in Poland, and too little attention was paid to the issues which the target group is facing. This background led to two theoretical assumptions, meaning that – regardless of the school type – all teachers are exposed to occupational burnout in the same way. The second theory claims that most of them do not realize the threat or are afraid to admit they have the symptoms resulting from job burnout. In order to confirm both theories, the author used qualitative and quantitative methods (interview and survey form) and the results were used to form a set of recommendations how to protect oneself from occupational burnout. The survey was conducted among 141 Polish teachers from primary, secondary and high schools, from two age groups – below 30 years old and over 46 years old. Special focus was placed on the age and inclination to exhaustion at work, lack of motivation and feeling of frustration, considering such factors like e.g. atmosphere at school and cooperation with students, other teachers and principals.The analysis showed that in most cases teachers within the scope of the research declared not to feel burnout. However, slightly less than a half of them admitted to operate under daily stress and in fact undergoing the process of the job burnout without even realizing it. The findings of the research are important for the potential identification of an adequate and rapid prevention, which result is closely linked to better wellbeing and health of teachers who could be more successful and passionate about their work.
Key words: burnout, frustration, emotional exhaustion, job environment, lack of motivation.
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