PREVENTION OF BURNOUT IN EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONALS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The notion of burnout first appeared in psychology and psychotherapy in the 1970s. 20th century. From this has been published many publications and studies on this still topical topic. Many authors agree that the most endangered group are people from the following areas: healthcare, education, economy and administration, social care and social services and even family. Exercise of a profession is connected with a specific degree of load and a number of risk factors the individual is regularly exposed to. A long term exposure can lead to the development of burnout syndrome. This gave the authors an idea to carry out a long-term (2017 – 2019) research study aiming to map protective factors educational professionals deem important for burnout syndrome prevention. The research sample includes 320 educational professionals for the time being. The research uses a qualitative method (40 group discussions).

Intermediate results show that an important or very important preventative factor for the respondents is social support of their close friends and family, stress-coping strategies and affiliative relationships in the workplace. More than half of the respondents (51.8%) think that teaching professions have an average prestige in the eyes of society. However, 37.3% respondents believe that society perceives teaching professions as occupations with a lower or low prestige. 19.4% out of 320 respondents experienced burnout in the past. 18.1% out of 320 respondents are feeling at risk of burnout.

Regarding the size of the sample and continuation of the research, it is not possible to generalise the presented research. However, the authors believe that all signs or symptoms of burnout should be taken very seriously. It is necessary to teach all educational professionals to take notice of possible indicators of burnout. Measures for prevention minimizing the possibility of burnout development should be a matter of course for employers (schools). The current situation may be also solved by systematic training of educational professionals in the area of social skills, if possible by means of self-experience training. The authors are convinced that if such training is to be efficient enough, it must be based on learners' own pedagogical experience.