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13И.М. Синагатуллин, А. Мескита, Г.Ф. Ахмедзянова СТАРАЯ ПРОБЛЕМА - НОВЫЕ ЗАБОТЫ: ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЕ ВЫГОРАНИЕ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЯ
Ключевые слова: профессиональное выгорание преподавателя, фактор, образование, высшая школа, педагогическая профессия.
Аннотация. В статье рассматриваются некоторые вопросы, касающиеся профессионального выгорания преподавателя высшей школы. В последние два десятилетия на данную проблему обращают особое внимание не только в школьной практике, но и в педагогических кругах высших учебных заведений многих стран мира. Кроме теоретических вопросов, работа также опирается на результаты анкетирования, которое было нами проведено среди группы преподавателей Португалии и Башкортостана.
The problem of teacher burnout has been receiving a global attention since ancient times. Today we all live in an age of globalization and technology boom [3; 4; 5; 6], we experience regressions in some other spheres of professional activity and life, including also the domain of teaching. One of these regressions is, undoubtedly, teacher burnout, which will be at the center of our attention in the further discussion. Burnout is known to present a huge dilemma for working teachers, teacher educators, and a wide range of higher school lecturers and instructors. It is a threat not only to the entire systems of education but also to people in other occupations. When an educator experiences burnout, he feels himself emptied emotionally and depersonalized, distanced from others. He feels a low sense of personal accomplishment, experiences anger and irritability in working with students and surrounding colleagues, absence of motivation and commitment to the teaching profession as well as a range of problems in his family circle.
Burnout undermines an educator's self-worth, reduces the sense of accomplishment, and uses up emotional resources. Chronic stress builds a wall between an educator and the professional environment. In all these cases we deal with a vicious circle: the more serious is the burnout, the stronger the isolation becomes. The chances of reintegrating into a healthy professional context diminish as a result. In addition to the teaching profession, burnout often affects people in other helping professions such as lawyers, doctors, social workers, and managers [1]. A burned-out teacher in the staff room may affect others; therefore burnout is not only an individual problem. Continual complaints and discontents, not getting involved in activities going on around them - this way of behavior can become accepted, influence others and eventually come to define the climate of the staff room. Engagement and burnout are closely intertwined: the more educators positively engage with their work and those people them, the less chance there is for professional burnout. A series of stressful situations may lead to depression common signs and symptoms of which are a loss of interest in activities one enjoyed previously, feelings of worthlessness and helplessness, a desire to escape to some unknown place, easy irritability, and thoughts about committing suicide. Huston postulates that Protestant teachers are more depersonalized than Catholic teachers, and teachers in their 40s are more depersonalized than younger and older groups. Men are believed to have greater burnout than women. Traditionally through the years women have nurtured children and have much more interpersonal relationships with them in general [2]. Married educators burn out less frequently than single teachers, elementary school teachers—less than middle and high school teachers, and religious teachers—less than non-religious ones.
In order to have a deeper insight into what burnout triggered by, we interviewed a number of university lecturers and instructors from Portugal (Porto) and Bashkortostan (Birsk). We addressed the respondents with the question: «Could you name some causal factors that may spark and give rise to teacher burnout?» To begin with, as an introductory note, it is worthwhile to say a couple of words about Portugal's higher education system. In Portugal, a teacher in higher education must perform his professional obligations in three areas: pedagogical, scientific and
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organizational. The pedagogical field includes teaching, preparing materials, assessing students, and organizing pedagogical activities. The scientific field includes researching, publishing in indexed journals, participating in scientific events, collaborating with other researchers both from their country and other countries, organizing scientific events and doing extension activities with industry enterprises. The organizational side incorporates activities such as participating in the management activities of the institution (working in committees and working groups). Higher school faculty has their performance assessed every 3 years and so they need to obtain the needed points in all the mentioned areas in order to proceed in their careers. Failing to do so may mean not advancing in the career and eventually being fired.
Thus, we interviewed eight educators from the higher education system in Portugal and identified that the factors causing burnout can fall into two groups - intrinsic and extrinsic. The former are embedded inside the educator himself. These factors concern the personal demand the educator assigns to himself, lack of self-motivation, lack of recognition of the work done, the fear of failure, the anxiety due to external circumstances. Extrinsic factors are those that emerge in the environment where the educator works. We identified two big groups within this one - the factors provoked by the system itself (these can be originated in the central government or legislation) or by the way the institution decides to organize the work (internal administration). On the whole, the factors listed by the respondents look as follows. As a major constituent hindering the teaching profession the respondents named the difficulty to cover so many activities (lecturing and researching activities lecturing, department management, managing a journal, researching, writing, supervising students, internships, and taking care of Erasmus students). It all means that not much time is left to dedicate to each one. Eventually huge amount of activity causes a lot of stress and the teacher has always the feeling of not performing well in any field. Another negative factor that the Portuguese educators mentioned is excessive bureaucracy that is usually related to the demands of the government (each year legislation demands more and more things from the teachers and from the institution. This work is not supported by the institution. There are more and more areas to cover, with more strict deadlines. For teachers it sounds like if they were in a race. Still another negative factor is absence of the sabbatical leave to upgrade knowledge, do research and to prepare papers to publish in indexed journals. One educator complained that there is no sabbatical leave in her institution although such a possibility is contained in the law. Among other detrimental factors bringing about continual stresses are big classes and students' inappropriate behavior. There are cases when a practical class/laboratory can have more than 80 students, which often leads to disturbances in the classroom and students' inappropriate behavior.
In Bashkortostan, higher education educators and lecturers perform three main activities - pedagogical (teaching, preparing materials, evaluating students academic activity, organizing pedagogical activities), scientific (preparing articles and monographs, participating in local and international conferences), and social (preparing and organizing social and extracurricular activities with students). Like their Portuguese colleagues, higher school faculty has to discharge approximately the same goals. In Bashkortostan we also interviewed eight teachers from the higher education system and addressed them with the same question: «Could you name some causal factors that may spark and give rise to teacher burnout?» Like in Portugal, the results can also be divided into two groups - intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. The intrinsic factors encompass the variables such as the fear of failure, lack of motivation from the work performed because some students themselves lack interest in academic activities. Huge academic load is another factor reducing motivation and creating misunderstandings between professional life and personal life. The extrinsic factors are greater in number and they inevitably make a negative impact on educators. Six educators named excessive bureaucratic intervention as one of the main factors making a negative impact on their professional activities. Five educators named insufficient salary as a factor. All the interviewees are not satisfied with a huge paper-pushing activity that, on
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a daily basis, befalls on them. Three educators pointed out the existence of too many subjects that they should teach, which in turn requires more time to preparing for classes and organizing social activities.
The respondents in both countries listed most crucial factors speeding up teacher stress and burnout. Our personal observations, the results of this survey as well as numerous studies indicate that the causes bringing about the symptoms of an educator's emotional and physical exhaustion are greater in number. Among them we can mention just a few assumptions.
The first on the list are sociopolitical factors. The overall atmosphere of socio- political unrest inevitably makes an unfavorable blow on higher education teachers and the whole sphere of education. Constant sociopolitical reforms may bring about continual reorganization of the goals and strategies of teaching, various changes in the content of textbooks and other teaching materials, and an atmosphere of professional uncertainty, personal uneasiness, and suspense. Then come economic factors. Insufficient salary represents not only a major factor diminishing the status of education and the teaching profession but also a cause considerably aggravating educators' motivation to professional activity. Some teachers spend their own money for obtaining necessary textbooks, teaching aids, and equipment, thus further "shrinking" their already small budgets. Dissatisfaction with the salary makes some educators leave the profession to find another job. Secondary school and university educators' wages remain relatively low compared to the salaries of others in intellectual careers.
Educators' professionalism is often challenged by systematic and unexpected control by administrators and ministerial officials. Sometimes the accreditation control represents unfair and prejudiced practices, and such practices make a devastating impact on the whole educational environment, including students. Some accreditation practices end with calamitous consequences. An institution may be closed or consolidated with some other institution, and some educators may immediately become unemployed. Unsatisfactory working conditions represent a salient factor contributing to teacher stress and burnout. Contemporary educators are burdened with excessive paperwork, as was mentioned by the interviewees. Systematic and unnecessary paperwork makes a negative impact on an individual's self-esteem. Retired teachers unanimously acknowledge that in the years long gone into history they had not spent so much time on preparing various pieces of documentation and discharging unnecessary duties. It is excessive paperwork that the overwhelming majority of teachers we solicited input from are not satisfied with. One of the difficult problems plaguing higher school teaching personnel is testing, which is an equal worriment for school teachers and pupils at their charge. Testing creates numerous stressful situations. Some educators start working just for the sake of a future testing, ignoring the curriculum requirements. Sometimes a low level of education a young faculty member receives at college or university may be a factor engendering stressful situations and eventually destroying his career. Low-achieving lecturers and instructors, sooner or later, may find themselves in a difficult situation and their profession may become a burdensome activity for them
Stressful and frustrating situations may also be triggered by personal and psychological factors. For instance, a teacher-perfectionist boasts extremely high expectations, thus believing that anything less than ideal and perfect is unacceptable. Educators are also susceptible to a wide range of professional diseases, such as chronic bronchitis, blood pressure, headaches, and insomnia
After discussing some important points and having analyzed the respondents' answers, we can offer the following recommendations to the teaching personnel of higher institutions as well as to the higher educational authorities.
First, it is necessary to create a favorable working environment in the educational institution. The highest degree of occupational safety and health for teachers and other school
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personnel should be promoted and maintained. It becomes necessary to protect educators in their place of employment from various risks such as, for example, cold temperatures. The professional activity of educators should be protected from mechanical hazards, electricity, and noise.
Second, the time has come to rethink the very essence of teacher supervision and evaluation. It is not impossible to refuse or ban the processes of monitoring and supervision of educational institutions and educators, nor is it possible to teach students without assessing and controlling the quality of their knowledge and skills. The educators and university faculty agree on one important point: The supervision and evaluation of the work of the whole institution or a separate faculty member should be conducted fairly. Instead of seeking educators' weak points, ministerial inspectors are required to render necessary assistance to educators.
Third, faculty members need to be complemented for their jobs, especially if a job is well done. In fact, everyone honestly earning bread is worth praise. If your compliments are sincerely delivered, compliments pay off [5]. A sincere compliment will reduce the weight of a stress or emotional tension and instill a motivating impulse in a teacher's work. Taking into consideration Dale Carnegie's recommendations on how to handle people and one may offer a few suggestions for educators:
1. Take a sincere interest in the work of your colleagues.
2. Listen attentively to your colleagues, especially when they experience a stressful situation and need a help.
3. Try to understand and consider the pluses and minuses of the teaching process from your colleague's viewpoint.
4. Avoid criticizing and condemning your co-workers.
5. Support and share the values they value and share.
6. Call attention to your colleagues' and administrator's mistakes and reproaches indirectly.
7. Instill a feeling of significance in the people you work with.
Fourth, maintaining an appropriate climate and relationships in the family is a crucial determinant adding to the educator's successful professional activity at his educational institution. The educator is known to spend most time in the family circle. Strained relationships with the spouse and children and other disagreements immediately impact the professional work of any educator. A discord with the spouse in the morning may linger in the mind of the educator all day long.
Fifth, the system of education in any country must become a priority for state investments. Creating favorable conditions for charity support of education and making it advantageous for contributors is an important task of state and governmental authorities. When it comes to think about educational matters there should be long-term planning and long-term investments on the part of higher authorities. A long-term planning enables a country to change and improve the strategies of preparing its future educated and healthy citizens, provide teachers and teacher educators with necessary conditions for work and life, and to provide educational institutions with all required conveniences, teaching materials, and modern technology. Lastly, it means that the status of education and knowledge will augment in society, and there will be less burned out educators and people involved in education.
Sixth, educators of all ranks need to have a rich, interesting life outside of work
Spending time in the open, visiting and exploring interesting places, having hobbies and a rich after-hours life is important to overcome stress and burnout. Oftentimes it is crucial to change the familiar home atmosphere for some spectacular locales in the realm of nature with the family members or friends. By so doing, the educator may forget some professional questions that often nag him in everyday activities.
And lastly, educators should not lose their dignity. Despite external factors negatively affecting the teaching profession and personally each educator, they are required to
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possess and show self-respect and reason. In each educator, there exists an inherent worth, an absolute value that cannot be bought or sold. This entity is called dignity. For an educator it is necessary to be more independent in his or her decisions. They should not allow their minds to be colonized by constantly emerging and quickly waning techniques and strategies of teaching. They should also be free in conceptualizing and implementing their own ideas while working with a diversity of students. Another task is controlling one's emotions in difficult situations. As was mentioned, difficulties may be prompted by continual educational reforms, bureaucratic inspections, and health problems. Psychological uneasiness and tension may be entailed by the general low-status atmosphere cloaking education and the teaching profession. Dignity presupposes that one feels good about oneself, and it becomes necessary for that person to respect himself, colleagues, and students and try to come out with dignity from any one difficult situation.
The factors causing burnout are somewhat similar in all educational institutions whose objectives are directed to educating younger generations. Burnout is an old dilemma and headache, only in the 21st century it is cloaked with new and fast growing concerns about the teaching professions. Collectively, we should be more aware of the roots that may eventually cause it, and let's also work collectively and reasonably to prevent it.
1. Enyedi, A. (2015). How can teachers avoid burnout? Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-teachers-avoid-burnout
2. Huston, J. Teacher burnout and effectiveness: A case study // Education. - 1989. - Vol.110. - No.1. - P. 7078.
3. Mesquita, A., Peres, P. Furthering higher education possibilities through massive open online courses. -Hershey : IGI Global, 2015.
4. Mesquita, A. Research paradigms and contemporary perspectives on human-technology interaction. -Hershey : IGI Global, 2017.
5. Sinagatullin, I.M. Fifteen biggest problems in education and how to solve them. - New York : Nova Publishers, 2013. - 202 p.
6. The teacher burnout epidemic: How prevalent is burnout in the teaching profession? (2016). (From the book "First aid for teacher burnout"). Retrieved from https : //www.psychologytoday.com/blog/much-more-common-core/201611/the-teacher-burnout-epidemic-part-1-2
