The prevalence of burnout among kindergarten and primary school teachers from 2019–2023

Abstract

Burnout is well known among employees who work in close contact with other people, such as health care and education workers. Employees in these professions develop unique personal and emotional relationships with their clients/students, which can be very rewarding but also have significant mental effects. The working environment for these professions is shaped by various social, political, and economic factors, reflected in work arrangements with high-stress levels, few resources and low capital. Managers and employees in these sectors suffer from work-related stress, fatigue and exhaustion, the most common symptoms of burnout. This study aimed to examine the development of burnout among kindergarten and primary school teachers before and after the covidpandemic to assess to what extent teachers experience mental and physical fatigue and exhaustion towards their work and students. The study is based on a long-term panel study where an electronic questionnaire was submitted to kindergarten and primary school teachers in eleven Icelandic municipalities in 2019, 2021 and 2023. All teachers with permanent positions (50 % or higher) were included in the survey. The teachers agreed to participate by opening a link to the questionnaire in the email. The questionnaire was filled out and collected anonymously. Everyone was allowed to decline to participate in the study without explanation. After three email reminders, a total of 652 kindergarten and primary school teachers answered the questionnaire at all three timepoints of the study. They provided codes matching the data or 26 % of the original participants. The number of participants varied slightly in the analyses, owing to some missing values on the predictor variables.

The results show that among kindergarten and primary school teachers, the proportion of those with significant and severe burnout symptoms (work-related, personal, and students-related) increased significantly between 2019, 2021 and 2023. The proportion of participants with significant or severe personal burnout symptoms increased from 23% to 33 % during the study period. The proportion of participants who had significant or severe work-related burnout symptoms increased from 19% to 31%, an increase of 12 %. A much lower proportion of participants had significant or severe student-related burnout symptoms, 6 % in 2019, but 15 % in 2023, an increase of 9%. Primary school teachers were about 41 % more likely than kindergarten teachers to have significant or severe work-related burnout symptoms and 73 % more likely to have significant or severe student-related burnout symptoms. However, the teachers had no significant differences in personal burnout symptoms. The results indicate that the teachers’ wellbeing has deteriorated during the covid-pandemic. The results also indicate that the situation harms their ability to cope with their work. Such a situation can harm the developmental process and the well-being of the students, which is a cause for concern. As many kindergarten and primary school teachers were measured with significant and severe burnout symptoms, it is vital for municipal managers to pay close attention to the health and well-being of teachers and their working environment, especially stressful factors in the working environment that can lead to burnout. The study’s novelty is that it sheds light on the development of burnout among teachers in eleven of Iceland’s 64 municipalities before, during, and after the covid-pandemic. Therefore, the study provides valuable knowledge and is a scholarly contribution to the relationship between teachers’ work-related well-being and pandemics like covid. The study results show that it is important for municipalities to consider the prevention of burnout, for example, by looking at the workday length and the number of tasks for each teacher.