EMOTIONAL BURNOUT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS: INTERPRETATION OF A SCREENING STUDY IN THE CONTEXT OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Abstract

Relevance. The preparation of secondary school teachers for educating students with disabilities requires the development of inclusive competence, which encompasses, among other skills and strategies, proficiency in health-preserving technologies. However, the elevated demands placed on teachers in inclusive classrooms – stemming from the increasing diversity of students’ special educational needs, the need to consistently allocate additional time and effort, and the emotional engagement in complex life situations – result in teacher overload, reduced effectiveness, chronic stress, and professional burnout. Understanding and interpreting teachers’ current psycho-emotional state is a prerequisite for revising the structure of their professional training and providing subsequent psychological support at the community level.

Objective: To select and test a screening scale for assessing professional burnout among teachers of inclusive classrooms, as well as to identify and interpret the most prominent burnout symptoms.

Methods: A survey was conducted with 65 secondary school teachers from Zhytomyr and Zhytomyr Oblast working in inclusive settings. Data were collected via an online form (Google Forms) containing a screening scale for diagnosing professional burnout. The results were processed by calculating the sum of responses indicating specific burnout symptoms. Data analysis was performed based on three main subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduction of personal accomplishment.

Results: The findings revealed that a significant proportion of teachers involved in inclusive education exhibit symptoms of professional burnout. The most pronounced symptoms include emotional exhaustion (feelings of fatigue and depletion by the end of the workday) and depersonalization (a desire for isolation). Additionally, a considerable number of respondents reported feeling “at the limit of their capacities,” which may be linked to the additional workload associated with supporting students with special educational needs (SEN). Nevertheless, teachers demonstrated relatively high scores on subscales reflecting their communication skills and self-efficacy beliefs.

Conclusions: The study results confirm the prevalence of professional burnout among secondary school teachers working in inclusive education settings. Consequently, it is advisable to incorporate a psycho-emotional self-regulation component into the content of their professional training. Furthermore, at the community level, there is a need to organize preventive and corrective measures aimed at reducing stress levels associated with teaching students with SEN and mitigating teacher burnout.