The Relationship between Student Behaviour Patterns and Teacher Burnout

Abstract

A wide range of factors have been proposed as antecedents of burnout in teachers, including student behaviour in the classroom. Several studies have shown associations between student misbehaviour and teacher burnout. However, researchers have rarely incorporated a direct measure of teachers' perceptions of student behaviour in their own classroom. The main aims of the present study of 100 British primary school teachers were: (a) to explore the properties of a measure of student behaviour in the classroom (the Pupil Behaviour Patterns scale PBP; Friedman, 1995) and (b) to test the prediction of burnout dimensions from dimensions of student behaviour assessed by the PBP. An exploratory factor analysis confirmed the PBP domains of disrespectful behaviour, sociability and attentiveness. Furthermore, reliability analyses supported the internal consistency of the scales. Regression analysis of teacher burnout showed differential prediction by PBP sub-domains: disrespect predicted emotional exhaustion and depersonalization burnout, and lack of sociability predicted depersonalization and personal accomplishment burnout. Methodological problems are discussed along with suggestions for future theoretical and empirical development. In particular, we focus on the potential role of psychological variables such as teacher self-efficacy and coping strategies in explaining how teacher well-being is affected by student behaviour in the classroom.