“Prevention Program of Burnout Syndrome Among Teachers Through Digital Tools” (BURNpro)
- Strategic Partnerships in School Education – Erasmus+
- Duration: 01/13/2023 – 01/05/2024
CONCEPT
According to researchers Jesús Montero-Marín and Javier García Campayo, burnout syndrome is clinically characterized by three subtypes: frenzy, inadequacy, and exhaustion. They also add that it is a “long-term response to chronic illness in the workplace, involving emotional and interpersonal stressors.”
In other words, burnout is an ongoing condition where teachers develop one of the following coping mechanisms over time:
- Exhaustion: feeling unable to give more of themselves
- Cynicism: maintaining a distant attitude towards work, colleagues, students, and other aspects of the job
- Inefficacy: feeling inadequate and ineffective in the workplace
- It is needless to say that this condition harms students, teachers, management, and parents.
OBJECTIVES
With this project, our consortium aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Development of guidelines to prevent possible burnout syndrome
- Development of a self-assessment digital tool and implementation of the program among teachers in Bulgaria, Spain, and Turkey
- Improvement of teachers’ mental health and well-being, enhancing stability and competence both as teachers and individuals
- Supporting holistic thinking regarding resilience against potential burnout syndrome behavioral characteristics
PURPOSE
While teacher burnout has always been a serious issue, it has intensified since the beginning of the pandemic. Research indicates an increase in the number of teachers considering leaving the profession since 2020. More than half of the teachers now want to quit or have recently considered quitting. Over 90% of the surveyed teachers believe that burnout is a serious problem in the teaching profession.
According to a recent survey by the European School Heads Association in May 2022, 66% of teachers want to leave their jobs, and 41.3% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years.
First and foremost, we believe it is important to distinguish between improving teacher mental health and preventing burnout. We aim to provide our consortium outputs, such as the digital self-assessment tool, for teachers to individually protect themselves against burnout. However, we must acknowledge that teacher burnout is not just an individual problem; it is a societal issue.
Putting the full responsibility of burnout on teacher mental health does not solve the existing problem. We should also empower teachers to take control of their own mental health and reduce mental strain. To achieve this, a guided prevention program will be developed and implemented in collaboration with project partners.
