The relationship between teacher burnout and student motivation.

BACKGROUND Teacher burnout is regarded as a serious problem in school settings. To date, studies on teachers' stress and burnout have largely centred on teachers' own characteristics, socialization, and behaviours, but few have explored the connection between teachers' burnout and students' motivation via their own perceptions of teachers' behaviour and emotional well-being. AIMS This study adopted Maslach et al.'s (2001, Annu. Rev. Psychol., 52, 397) job burnout construct and self-determination theory to investigate the relationships between teachers' burnout and students' autonomous motivation over one-semester physical education classes. SAMPLE A total of 1,302 high school students and their 33 physical education teachers in 20 high schools from two school districts in a major Midwest metropolitan area in the United States. The two school districts were demographically similar. METHODS Students and physical education teachers completed questionnaires assessing relevant psychological constructs. There were two time points for collecting students' data. One was at the beginning of a fall semester, and the other was at the end of that semester. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses were conducted. RESULTS It was revealed that teachers' emotional exhaustion was negatively related to students' perceived teacher autonomy support (TAS); in turn, there was a negative relationship between teachers' feeling of depersonalization and students' autonomous motivation development even when controlling for inadequate TAS. CONCLUSION The dimensions of teachers' burnout might play different roles in the transmission from teachers to students. Teachers' status of burnout is an important environmental factor associated with students' quality of motivation.

[1]  Nikolaos Tsigilis,et al.  The relationship between burnout and job satisfaction among physical education teachers: a multivariate approach , 2005 .

[2]  Guy Roth,et al.  Autonomous motivation for teaching: How self-determined teaching may lead to self-determined learning. , 2007 .

[3]  M. Kunter,et al.  Teachers' occupational well-being and quality of instruction: The important role of self-regulatory patterns , 2008 .

[4]  Brian W. Swider,et al.  Born to burnout: A meta-analytic path model of personality, job burnout, and work outcomes , 2010 .

[5]  A. Pines.  Burnout: An existential perspective. , 1993 .

[6]  L. Cronbach.  Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests , 1951 .

[7]  C. Maslach,et al.  Teacher burnout: A research agenda. , 1999 .

[8]  H. F. Gollob,et al.  Interpreting and estimating indirect effects assuming time lags really matter. , 1991 .

[9]  Constantinos M. Kokkinos.  Job stressors, personality and burnout in primary school teachers. , 2007, The British journal of educational psychology.

[10]  R. Ryan,et al.  Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two domains. , 1989 .

[11]  Joe M. Ricks,et al.  The Dimensionality of the Maslach Burnout Inventory across Small Business Owners and Educators. , 2000 .

[12]  M. Solmon,et al.  Self-determination in physical education: designing class environments to promote active lifestyles , 2007 .

[13]  Ran R. Hassin,et al.  Automatic goal inferences. , 2005 .

[14]  N. Ntoumanis.  A Prospective Study of Participation in Optional School Physical Education Using a Self-Determination Theory Framework. , 2005 .

[15]  J. Lackritz,et al.  Burnout and Personality , 2007 .

[16]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[17]  Bo Shen,et al.  Effects of Teacher Autonomy Support and Students' Autonomous Motivation on Learning in Physical Education , 2009, Research quarterly for exercise and sport.

[18]  S. Blandford.  Managing Professional Development in Schools , 2000 .

[19]  E. Deci,et al.  The effects of instructors' autonomy support and students' autonomous motivation on learning organic chemistry: A self-determination theory perspective , 2000 .

[20]  P. Whipp,et al.  Experienced Physical Education Teachers Reaching Their “Use-by Date” , 2007, Research quarterly for exercise and sport.

[21]  Anthony S. Bryk,et al.  Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods , 1992 .

[22]  A. Brouwers,et al.  Burnout among Teachers , 2004 .

[23]  E. Deci,et al.  Internalization of biopsychosocial values by medical students: a test of self-determination theory. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  Ulrich Trautwein,et al.  Assessing the impact of learning environments: How to use student ratings of classroom or school characteristics in multilevel modeling , 2009 .

[25]  Wilmar B. Schaufeli,et al.  The Burnout Companion to Study and Practice: A Critical Analysis , 1998 .

[26]  T. Cameron Wild,et al.  Social Contagion of Motivation Between Teacher and Student: Analyzing Underlying Processes , 2010 .

[27]  How Can Perceived Autonomy Support Influence Enrollment in Elective Physical Education? A Prospective Study , 2010, Research quarterly for exercise and sport.