Online ISSN: 2325-7466
2006
Triannual
National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET)
United States

Articles

Exploring Factors Related to Burnout among Special Education Teachers in Specialized Schools

  • Dr. Oksana Huk (Author) Iona College image/svg+xml
    Dr. Oksana Huk is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Iona College, where he teaches graduate courses related to school psychology. She earned her doctoral degree from St. Johns University in 2012, and she has a research focus on resiliency, burnout, and practical applications of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Dr. Oksana Huk
  • Dr. Brian Cesario (Author) Iona College
    Dr. Brian Cesario is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Iona College, where he teaches graduate courses in statistics, research methods, and professional issues and ethics. He also supervises student researchers. He received his PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Northcentral University in 2013. He has research interests in workplace deviance, survey construction, and translational research methods.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.441
Abstract
The purpose of this initial exploratory research was to examine the extent to which burnout and turnover among special education teachers working within specialized schools were related to student maladaptive behavior (aggressive behaviors, self-injurious behaviors, and stereotypic behaviors), workplace support (from administration and colleagues), and teacher irrational beliefs. Correlational analyses indicated that all forms of student maladaptive behavior, administrative support, teacher irrational beliefs (low frustration tolerance and attitudes toward the school) were significantly related to burnout. Student self-injurious behavior and low frustration tolerance were significantly related to turnover. Teacher burnout and teacher turnover were also significantly positively correlated. Colleague support, self-downing, and authoritarian attitudes toward students were unrelated to burnout or turnover. Furthermore, no association was found between turnover and student aggression, student stereotypical behavior, and support from administration.
Keywords
Aggression, Behavior Patterns, Behavior Problems, Beliefs, Collegiality, Correlation
References

Aloe, A. M., Shisler, S. M., Norris, B. D., Nickerson, A. B., & Rinker, T. W. (2014). A multivariate meta-analysis of student misbehavior and teacher burnout. Educational Research Review, 12, 30-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2014.05.003

Bermejo-Toro, L., & Prieto-Ursúa, M. (2006). Teachers' irrational beliefs and their relationship to distress in the profession. Psychology in Spain, 10, 88-96.

Bernard, M.E. (1990). Taking the stress out of teaching. Melbourne, Australia: Collins Dove.

Bernard, M.E. (2016). Teacher Beliefs and Stress. Journal of Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. 34, 209–224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-016-0238-y

Bora, C., Bernard, M. E., Trip, S., Decsei-Radu, A., & Chereji, S. (2009). Teacher Irrational Belief Scale – Preliminary norms for Romanian population. Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, 9, 211-220.

Bradley, G. (2007). Job tenure as a moderator of stressor-strain relations: a comparison of experienced and new-start teachers. Work and Stress, 21, 48-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370701264685

Brouwers, A., Evers, W., & Tomic, W. (2001). Self-efficacy in eliciting social support and burnout among secondary-school teachers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31, 1474-1491. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02683.x

Brunsting, N. C., Sreckovic, M. A., & Lane, K. L. (2014). Special education teacher burnout: A synthesis of research from 1979 to 2013. Education and treatment of children, 37, 681-711. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.2014.0032

Cancio, E.J., Albrecht, S.F. and Johns, B.H. (2013). Defining administrative support and its relationship to the attrition of teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Education and Treatment of Children, 36, 71-94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.2013.0035

Caplan, R.D., Cobb, S., French, J.R.P., Van Harrison, R. and Pinnaeu, S.R. (1975). Job Demands and Worker Health, Institute for Social Research: University of Michigan/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, DC.

Chang, M. L. (2009). An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: Examining the emotional work of teachers. Educational Psychology Review, 21,193-218. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-009-9106-y

DiGiuseppe, R., Doyle, K., Dryden, W., & Backx, W. (2013). A practitioner’s guide to rational-emotive therapy, Third Ed. New York, NY US: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780199743049.001.0001

Dillon, S. (2007). With turnover high, schools fight for teachers. The New York Times, 27-30.

Fleiss, J. L. & Cohen, J. (1973). The equivalence of weighted kappa and the intraclass correlation coefficient as measure of reliability. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 33, 613-619. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447303300309

Fleiss, J. L., Levin, B., & Paik, M. C. (2003). Statistical methods for rates and proportions, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/0471445428

Goddard, R., & Goddard, M. (2006). Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with serious intentions to leave. The Australian Educational Researcher, 33, 61-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216834

Goddard, R., O'Brien, P., & Goddard, M. (2006). Work environment predictors of beginning teacher burnout. British Educational Research Journal, 32, 857-874. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920600989511

Grant, M. C. (2017). A Case Study of Factors That Influenced the Attrition or Retention of Two First-Year Special Education Teachers. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 77, 84-101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.327

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of educational research, 79, 491-525. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325693

Irvin, D. W., Hume, K., Boyd, B. A., McBee, M. T., & Odom, S. L. (2013). Child and classroom characteristics associated with the adult language provided to preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7, 947-955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2013.04.004

Klusmann, U., Richter, D., & Lüdtke, O. (2016). Teachers’ emotional exhaustion is negatively related to students’ achievement: Evidence from a large-scale assessment study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 1193-1203. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000125

Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19, 192-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370500297720

Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher stress: Directions for future research. Educational review, 53, 27-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131910124115

Langher, V., Caputo, A., & Ricci, M. E. (2017). The potential role of perceived support for reduction of special education teachers’ burnout. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 6, 120-147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.2017.2126

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer. Luyckx, K., Duriez, B., Klimstra, T. A., & De Witte, H. (2010). Identity statuses in young adult employees: Prospective relations with work engagement and burnout. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77, 339-349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.06.002

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W., & Leiter, M. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397

McCormick, J., & Barnett, K. (2011). Teachers' attributions for stress and their relationships with burnout. International Journal of Educational Management, 25, 278-293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513541111120114

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. (2007). Policy brief: The high cost of teacher turnover. Washington, D.C: Author.

Mitchell, A., & Arnold, M. (2004). Behavior management skills as predictors of retention among south Texas special educators. Journal of instructional Psychology, 31, 214-220.

Nistor, A. A. (2013). Mediators of the relationship between challenging behaviors and burnout in Romanian special education teachers. Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, 5, 128-134.

Oberle, E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2016). Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science & Medicine, 159, 30-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.031

Osher, D., Bear, G. G., Sprague, J. R., & Doyle, W. (2010). How can we improve school discipline?. Educational Researcher, 39, 48-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X09357618

Pepe, A., & Addimando, L. (2013). Comparison of Occupational Stress in Response to Challenging Behaviours between General and Special Education Primary Teachers in Northern Italy. International Journal of Special Education, 13, 11-23.

Piekarska, A. (2000). School stress, teachers’ abusive behaviors, and children’s coping strategies. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24, 1443-1449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(00)00201-5

Popov, S., & Popov, S. (2015). The role of stressors at work and irrational beliefs in the prediction of teacher stress. Primenjena Psihologija, 8, 5–23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.2015.1.5-23

Rojahn, J., Matson, J. L., Lott, D., Esbensen, A. J., & Smalls, Y. (2001). The Behavior Problems Inventory: An instrument for the assessment of self-injury, stereotyped behavior, and aggression/destruction in individuals with developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 577-588. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013299028321

Ruble, L. A., & McGrew, J. H. (2013). Teacher and child predictors of achieving IEP goals of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43, 2748-2763. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1884-x

Rudow (1999). Understanding and preventing teacher burnout: A sourcebook of international research and practice. New York, NY US: Cambridge University Press.

Sass, D. A., Seal, A. K., & Martin, N. K. (2011). Predicting teacher retention using stress and support variables. Journal of Educational Administration, 49, 200-215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231111116734

Schaefer, L., Long, J. S., & Clandinin, D. J. (2012). Questioning the research on early career teacher attrition and retention. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 58, 106-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/ajer.v58i1.55559

Skaalvik, E.M. and Skaalvik, S. (2007). Dimensions of teacher self-efficacy and relations with strain factors, perceived collective teacher efficacy, and teacher burnout. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 611-625 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.611

Wang, C.K.J., Pyun, D.Y., Koh, K.T., & Kwon, H.H. (2017). Teacher Burnout and Teaching Effectiveness in Singapore. (NIE Research Brief Series No. 16-013). Singapore: National Institute of Education.

Wasburn-Moses, L. (2005). How to keep your special education teachers. Principal Leadership, 5, 35-38.

Williams, J., & Dikes, C. (2015). The implications of demographic variables as related to burnout among a sample of special education teachers. Education, 135, 337-345.

Wisniewski, L., & Gargiulo, R. M. (1997). Occupational stress and burnout among special educators: A review of the literature. The Journal of Special Education, 31, 325-346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/002246699703100303

Zabel, R. H., & Zabel, M. K. (2002). Burnout among special education teachers and perceptions of support. Journal of Special Education Leadership, 15, 67–73.

There are 46 references in total.
How to Cite
Huk, O., & Cesario, B. (2020). Exploring Factors Related to Burnout among Special Education Teachers in Specialized Schools. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 15(3), 138-161. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.441

Fall 2020

Article Information

  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted August 30, 2020
  • Published October 15, 2020
  • Issue Fall 2020
  • Section Articles
  • File Downloads 0
  • Abstract Views 0
  • Altmetrics
  • Share
Download data is not yet available.