Elementary school supervisors' burnout levels and its reasons

Abstract

The work life today results stress in people. The people, who live in stressful surroundings for a long time, lose their interest to work, experience negative events on human relations with people who work together or are served to. This situation is called burnout which is a factor that reduces people's efficiency at work. The aim of this study is to explore the burnout level of elementary school supervisors and the reasons which create burnout for them. The research was designed in two dimensions as qualitative and quantitative. The study was done on population directly. The 40 elementary supervisors who have worked in Denizli province were included. As data gathering instrument, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was employed and then a semi-structured interview was done with 5 supervisors. The data showed that the supervisors experience burnout in "rarely" level on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions. In personal accomplishment dimension, the supervisors perceived themselves successful in "usually" level. Furthermore, while the burnout levels of supervisors did not show difference according to age and education variables, it showed difference in receiving reward.