Eureka! Institutional Repository

We use the term Burn out to describe the serious phenomenon that leads a person to experience major psychosomatic problems, a strong isolation from the society and a significant reduction of one’s work performance. In modern societies this phenomenon increase with strongly rates, especially in professional environments where the workers provide services to other people and very often they face up their problems. Although it can affect all employees, there are specific workplaces in which the possibility to present this phenomenon is increased. Such environments are the health sector, social services and the education sector. Teachers belong to one of the professions with high risk of experiencing the burnout syndrome. In the last years the number of the affected teachers by this has increased highly. This is also the reason that has lead the significant number of researchers to study the phenomenon intensely. The main reasons that this phenomenon affects a notable number of teachers are : the difficult and stressful working conditions, the very high expectations that new entrant teachers have about their goals, the lack of recognition by the social environment, their low wages, the reduced autonomy of action and professional integration in the school environment but mainly their emotional involvement in the problems that their students and their families face. The research that was carried out is a social research that is limited to the population of primary school teachers and its purpose was to investigate the chances of developing the burnout syndrome and, as a consequence, the work satisfaction of the teachers. In this survey, the sample consisted of teachers of both sexes, all specialties from primary schools across the country. These teachers agreed to fill in the questionnaires online through Google forms. The promotion of the questionnaires took place through online communities and networks where the Greek teachers take part such as ILO, Greek Teachers and Kindergartens, Primary Education Teachers. A significant percentage of questionnaires was completed by teachers from the Piraeus region in which I work. The results of the research, carried out in the context of the specific work, show that the involved primary school teachers have serious problems regarding the satisfaction that they receive from their work. Therefore, since professional satisfaction is decreasing, the incidence of teachers experiencing the burnout syndrome will increase and the possibility that someone will find oneself in such a situation will constantly grow. Nearly half of the primary school teachers who participated in our research experience symptoms of burnout and, even more, they report feelings of mental exhaustion and lack of energy. Some of them appear to be at an advanced stage of the syndrome, with 13% showing intense symptoms (indifference to the students) and 23% of them lighter symptoms (disregard for the learning environment – depersonalization), while 28% declare their disappointment with their job.