Teachers leave profession due to burnout

Almost a third of graduate teachers intend to leave their employment due to 'teacher burnout', a new study has found.

The Australian Psychological Society reports increasing concern over a lack of support early in a teacher's career and emotionally demanding environments also rated as key factors affecting graduate teachers.

The study, conducted by Griffith University School of Human Services psychologist Dr Richard Goddard and University of Southern Queensland Faculty of Education lecturer Dr Patrick O'Brien, involved teachers who had been working for less than two years after completing their tertiary course at one of three Queensland universities.

The graduate teachers were surveyed while teaching at schools across Australia.

They described their work environment as being emotionally demanding and reporting high work pressures compared with other professions.

Dr Goddard said two thirds of the graduate teachers reported that they thought they were working harder than more experienced colleagues.

"A third of the respondents indicated that the work effort required was higher than they expected after they had completed their course."

The Australian Psychological Society reports the results identified an increasingly worrying trend, that is teachers continue to report a decline in key features of their work environments such as job commitment, involvement, role clarity and supervisor and co-worker support.

The society found this concerning considering that after 24 months of working, beginning teachers felt that their working conditions hadn't improved and had actually further declined.

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November 2004 contents