Measuring the influence of stress and burnout in teacher-child relationship

• Main Authors: Francesca Giovanna Maria Gastaldi, Tiziana Pasta, Claudio Longobardi, Laura Elvira Prino, Rocco Quaglia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ASUNIVEP 2014-06-01
• Series: European Journal of Education and Psychology
• Subjects: Teacher - child interaction; teacher burn out; self - efficacy; teacher effectivenes
• Online Access: http://formacionasunivep.com/ejep/index.php/journal/article/view/99
• ISSN: 1888-8992; 1989-2209

Most research finds socio-psychological aspects and the organism-environment relationship crucial in the onset of stress-related phenomena; equally important is the subject’s evaluation of stimuli. The Burnout syndrome is defined as a psychological state perceived as emotive breakdown and sense of depersonalization, featuring decreased effectiveness at work and a lower evaluation of one’s performance. At school, the most significant widespread stressors are issues in managing student behavior. However, in the literature few works treat stress and burnout as a specific function of the teacher-pupil relationship. This research will highlight the significant correlations existing between burnout, self-efficacy, students’ academic performance and the quality of pupil-teacher relationships. 37 primary-school teachers in north-west Italy were involved (age range: 27-57 yrs; M=44.76 yrs; SD=8.38 yrs). Tools used were a specially designed socio-personal questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (M.B.I.) and the Classroom and School Context Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (CSC-TSES), while teachers’ perception of the relationship with their pupils was investigated with STRS (Italian adaptation). Preliminary analysis reveals mutual influence between teachers' self-efficacy levels and degree of burnout; Conflict is the only dimension correlating significantly with burnout levels and self-efficacy in class management ability