Abstract:

Teachers represent a professional group heavily affected by stress, the long-term effect of which may even lead to the development of burnout. Recently, this issue has been largely discussed in scholarly literature, particularly in relation to health issues, reconciliation of teachers’ personal and professional life, their ability to cope with serious life issues, or the issue of teachers’ life satisfaction. In the case of the teaching profession, the risk of the syndrome is likely if the teacher must fight long-term stress and fails. In their daily practice, teachers experience many stressful situations, which relatively quickly lead to a loss of their initial optimism and motivation for the teaching profession and are replaced by frustration and discouragement. The teaching profession is one of the professions subject to extremely high demands. In addition to a professional qualification, the teaching profession requires several abilities and skills, moral credit, and positive personality characteristics. At the same time, however, the teaching profession is not fully appreciated by society, both in terms of finance and prestige. As a result, teachers are subject to considerable pressure which may in the long term affect their mental health. Burnout syndrome is a serious problem that significantly affects the quality of life and overall life satisfaction of the individual and is reflected negatively in teachers' job satisfaction. The aim of the paper was to map how kindergarten teachers evaluate their job satisfaction and the incidence of burnout, the relationship between these phenomena, and the factors that are most affected by these areas. The research was carried out among 485 kindergarten teachers in the Czech Republic (age range 25-65 years). Data collection took place through a questionnaire survey – the level of burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey (MBI-ES) while the social climate was measured through a one-dimensional assessment scale measuring the perception of the social climate. The results of the research suggested that kindergarten teachers are at the greatest risk of burnout syndrome in the area of emotional exhaustion; a high degree in this dimension was suggested by 28.5% of respondents. In the depersonalization dimension, 11.1% of teachers showed high values, while a low level of personal accomplishment was suggested by 15.9% of kindergarten teachers. The results of the research also showed that satisfaction with the social climate among the teaching staff is statistically significantly related to the level of risk of burnout syndrome in all dimensions. There is a negative relationship between climate quality and the levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A positive significant correlation was found between the social climate and the level of personal satisfaction.

Keywords:

Kindergarten teacher, burnout syndrome, school climate.