Scrutinising burnout in English language teachers working in state and private schools in Turkey

Abstract

Recent global concerns about teaching and teacher quality have underlined teacher burnout as a significant factor in teacher attrition. Burnout studies in English Language Teaching in Turkey have focused mainly on tertiary level contexts. K12 contexts have attracted relatively little attention, and private K12 schools even less. This mixed-method study aims to determine to which level English language teachers working in state and private K12 schools in Turkey experience burnout and find out why. Quantitative data were collected from teachers working at state schools (n=112) and private schools(n=112) via a self-report burnout scale. MANOVA was used to determine any significant differences between the two groups and in terms of demographic variables. The findings revealed that single teachers reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion than their married or divorced counterparts. State school teachers reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion than those at private schools. However, private school teachers reported a higher sense of personal accomplishment. Both groups of teachers reported different grounds for their burnout. Implications of the findings are discussed. (C) Association of Applied Linguistics. All rights reserved