Determinants of professional burnout of special school employees

Abstract

The aim of the research was to diagnose the phenomenon of professional burnout of special school employees. The research was conducted among employees of special schools in the Opolskie Voivodeship. The method used in the research was a diagnostic survey. The research tool was selected by adapting the Maslach's occupational burnout questionnaire for the research purposes. Considering all three dimensions of professional burnout, the results of the research show that the dominant group is the group of people with a low level of emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization and a high level of reduced sense of personal achievements. In all three dimensions of professional burnout, no statistically significant difference was observed between women and men working in special schools. Age, professional experience and the degree of professional promotion are factors correlating with emotional exhaustion and risk factors increasing the depersonalised approach to their charges. Special school teachers work at different levels of education, but this is not related to the professional burnout. The number of subjects they teach influences the symptoms of the burnout process. Employees of special schools are not a burned out group because none of the respondents meets the criterion of full-blown professional burnout, i.e. has a high level of emotional exhaustion, a high level of depersonalization and a reduced sense of personal achievements. At the same time, they are a group with a very reduced sense of personal achievements, as it is declared by as many as 98.10% of the respondents. Therefore, actions should be taken to change the perception of employees and teachers about their work or to look at the criteria that are used to evaluate (or self-evaluate) their work. If a different method of research were used, the conclusions could be slightly different, even completely different.