Teacher burnout profiles and proactive strategies

Abstract

Teacher burnout has been identified as a significant occupational hazard. However, our understanding about individual variations in burnout risk among in-service teachers is still less than sufficient. This study explored socio-contextual burnout risk profiles and their association with the reported use of proactive strategies among in-service teachers by using a person-oriented approach. The survey data were collected from 2310 Finnish in-service primary and lower secondary school teachers using a probability sampling method. In the latent profile analysis, five socio-contextual burnout profiles were identified. The profiles differed from each other in terms of burnout symptoms and proactive strategy use. Results suggested that there is individual variation in teachers’ risk of burnout. In addition, the results imply that well-developed proactive strategies, both in terms of self- and co-regulative strategies, are related to lower risk of experiencing socio-contextual burnout. The utilization of strong co-regulative strategies was related to lower risk of experiencing exhaustion and inadequacy during teacher-pupil interactions. However, strong self-regulation combined with low levels of co-regulation was related to an increased risk of experiencing cynicism. This implies that learning proactive strategies may be useful in preventing teacher burnout.