Teacher Burnout Predicts Child Goal Attainment Outcomes

Background:  

Special educators experience higher attrition rates than general educators, as approximately 25% of special educators exit every three years (McLeskey & Billingsley, 2008). Furthermore, stress and dissatisfaction with their teaching positions lead an additional 20% to transfer to general education or seek another position in special education each yar (Boe, Cook, & Sunderland, 2008). This turnover is so serious that many special education teachers are hired without adequate preparation (McLeskey & Billingsley, 2008). Over the past several decades, researchers have identified stress and burnout as major factors contributing to teacher turnover (Awa, Plaumann, & Walter, 2010).Burnout is described as the eventual consequence of chronic and long-term stress (Billingsley, 2004; Farber & Ascher, 1991). Students with specific disabilities that may be particularly challenging are those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; Jennett, Harris, & Mesibov, 2003).  Kokkinos and Davazoglou (2007) found that the majority of teachers indicated that teaching students with autism posed the most stress in comparison to teaching other groups of students with disabilities such as those with emotional or behavioral problems, ADHD, or cognitive disabilities. To date, most studies have documented the impact of burnout on teacher variables (e.g., retention), but no studies to our knowledge have examined the impact on student variables (educational outcomes).

Objectives:  

To evaluate the impact of teacher stress and burnout on child educational goal attainment outcomes.

Methods:  

Teacher stress and burnout data collected for another study was used for secondary analysis. A total of 73 special education teachers who taught preshool and elementary children with autism completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1997) and the Index of Teaching Stress near the beginning of the school year. At the end of the year, student outcomes were measured by an independent observer using a psychometric equivalent goal attainment scale (PET-GAS) approach for three goals selected to assess improvement in  student skills representing ecologically and socially valid goals reflected in the Individual Education Programs (IEPs; Ruble, McGrew, & Toland, 2012). Change scores were calculated by subtracting end of year PET-GAS scores from beginning of the year scores. Intercorrelations between PET-GAS, teacher burnout, and stress were calculated.

Results:  

Student outcomes were lower for teachers reporting increased emotional exhaustion (r = -.20, p <.05) and stress (r = -.21, p < .05) at Time 1 (see Table 1).

Table 1. Intercorrelations between Student Outcome and Teacher Burnout and Stress

	GAS	MBI EE	MBI DEP	MBI PA	ITS
PET-GAS Change	--	-.20*	-.09	.13	-.21*
MBI-EE	-.20*	--	.49**	-.44**	.29**
MBI-DEP	-.09	.49**	--	-.35**	.28**
MBI- PA	.13	-.44**	-.35**	--	-.41**

Note. PET-GAS: Psychometric equivalence tested goal attainment change score; MBI: Maslach Burnout Inventory (EE: emotional exhaustion; DEP: depersonalization; PA: personal accomplishments); ITS: Index of Teaching Stress

Conclusions:  

This is the first study showing a direct and predictive relationship between teacher stress and burnout and child educational outcomes. Further work is needed to understand exactly what aspects of teaching are affected and to identify methods to mitigate burnout and impact on the student.