Teacher burnout in agricultural education

The teaching profession is one of the most visible professions in the world, and even though significant improvements have been made in student achievement, society continues to expect more from its teachers. As the gap widens between the public’s expectations of education and the teachers ability to deliver that education, burnout will continue to be a concern. This study sought to determine the level of burnout experienced by agriculture teachers in three southeastern states using the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educator’s Survey. The study found that agricultural teachers experience moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, low levels of depersonalization in relationships with students, colleagues and others, and a high degree of personal accomplishment in their work. An agriculture teacher’s gender, academic degree, field preparation method, and annual contract length do not seem to influence teachers ’ responses on each of the sub-scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory nor do the size of the school, the type of community, and the size of the agricultural education department. The age and years of teaching experience of the agriculture teacher is related to depersonalization scores, but not to emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory