Teacher burnout and participation in professional learning activities: Perspectives from university English language instructors in Turkey Derya Kulavuz-Önala

Over the past decades, teacher burnout has attracted teacher education scholars worldwide as regards to its causes, effects, and amelioration. Although the burnout phenomenon is not new, the research on teacher burnout in Turkey is still relatively recent. Providing a perspective from Turkey, in this study, we investigated burnout and participation in professional learning activities among Turkish EFL (English as a foreign language) instructors at university English preparatory programs, a rarely researched group in this area. Quantitative data were collected from 224 Turkish EFL instructors through a questionnaire consisting three sections, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators. Our analysis revealed that state university instructors (SUEPPI) and private university instructors (PUEPPI) significantly differ in terms of the levels of sense of personal accomplishment and participation in professional learning activities. Our findings suggest that, SUEPPI did not feel as accomplished and did not participate in professional learning activities as frequently as PUEPPI, and instructors‟ sense of personal accomplishment is positively correlated with their increased participation in professional learning activities.

Öğretmenlerde Tükenmişlik ve Mesleki Öğrenme Etkinliklerine Katılım: Türkiye‟deki İngilizce Okutmanlarından Perspektifler

Son yıllarda öğretmenlerde tükenmişlik konusu, nedenleri, etkileri ve iyileştirilmesi yönlerinden öğretmen eğitimi alanında çalışan araştırmacıların ilgisini çekmiştir. Tükenmişlik yeni bir fenomen olmamasına rağmen, Türkiye’de öğretmenlerde tükenmişlik konusundaki araştırmalar oldukça yenidir. Bu çalışmada, görece üzerinde daha az araştırma yapılmış bir grup olan, Türkiye’de üniversitelerin İngilizce hazırlık birimlerinde görev yapan İngilizce okutmanlarının tükenmişlik düzeyleri ve mesleki öğrenme etkinliklerine katılımlarını inceledik. Nicel veri Maslach Eğitimciler için Tükenmişlik ölçeğinin de aralarında bulunduğu üç bölümden oluşan bir anket aracılığıyla İstanbul’da çalışmakta olan 224 yerli (Türkiye uyruklu) hazırlık okutmanından toplanmıştır. Bulgular, devlet üniversitesi ve özel üniversite İngilizce hazırlık okutmanları arasında kişisel başarı hissi ve mesleki öğrenme etkinliklerine katılım arasında anlamlı farklılıklar olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Sonuçlara göre, devlet üniversitesi İngilizce hazırlık okutmanları, özel üniversite İngilizce hazırlık okutmanlarından daha az kişisel başarı hissetmekte ve mesleki öğrenme etkinliklerine onlar kadar sık katılmamaktadırlar. Ayrıca sonuçlar katılımcıların kişisel başarı hissinin, mesleki öğrenme etkinliklerine katılımıyla ilişkili olduğunu göstermiştir.

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