Profiles of Teacher Burnout During One School Year and Relations to Student Classroom Experiences

The study was conducted to understand teacher’s experience of burnout and its course, in addition to how burnout is related to classroom factors and student experiences. I used a person-centered approach, which accounted for all three burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low perceived accomplishment), to characterize different patterns of burnout and investigate the various changes of burnout patterns from fall to spring over a school year. I conducted secondary analysis of survey data collected from 52 5th grade teachers and 693 of their students as part of a larger efficacy trial. The study’s results provide evidence that teachers experience burnout in various ways, as characterized by distinct profiles. Additionally, the results extend the existing evidence of teacher burnout stability at the sample level and indicate some degree of within-subject variability from fall to spring. Furthermore, the results add to the existing variable-centered literature on teacher burnout and provide evidence about the relations of teacher burnout patterns to teacher perceived conflict with students, student-reported teacher discipline, and student cognitive engagement. Moreover, the study’s results highlight four limitations in the research on teacher burnout, regarding the application of the three-dimensional model to teachers, appropriateness of burnout subscales and items, reliance on one-time point data, and reliance on survey methods, respectively. For all future interventions designed to address teacher burnout, the study’s person-centered approach to characterizing teacher burnout patterns can provide a useful tool that helps interventions tailor their supports to be responsive to the needs of teachers in specific profiles.