Job burnout was first put forward by American scholar Feidenberg when he studied occupational stress in 1970s. He believes that job burnout is a symptom of emotional exhaustion, which is most likely to appear in the process of helping others. Later, Maslow and others called the psychological syndrome caused by coping with long-term emotional and interpersonal stressors at work job burnout. The research shows that job burnout consists of three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, dehumanization and decreased personal accomplishment. Generally speaking, job burnout is an extreme reaction when individuals can't cope with work pressure smoothly, and it is a state of exhaustion of emotions, attitudes and behaviors experienced by individuals under long-term pressure. Teachers' job burnout is an extreme psychological reaction when teachers can't cope with work pressure smoothly, and it is a state of exhaustion of emotions, attitudes and behaviors caused by teachers' long-term high-level stress experience. Its typical symptoms are low job satisfaction, loss of work enthusiasm and interest, emotional alienation and indifference.
Typical teacher burnout is mainly manifested in the following symptoms:
(1) attitude. Cognitive, think that work is meaningless and worthless, and work is just a boring and repetitive chore.
(2) In terms of emotions, due to overwork, the mood fluctuates greatly, and many negative emotions such as depression, depression, resentment, melancholy and paranoia often occur. In terms of value orientation, the teaching profession is no longer regarded as "the most glorious profession under the sun", but the goal is to pursue material enjoyment, so some teachers take part-time jobs as second occupations, which affects the normal teaching work.
(3) Behavior. The main manifestations are that they are tired of teaching, reduce work input, even don't prepare lessons, teaching is dull, lack of innovation, trying to escape from the teaching environment, being indifferent to students, avoiding communication with colleagues or refusing to cooperate, complaining a lot about the school environment and school management, and only paying attention to personal treatment and welfare.
(4) in terms of body and mind. If teachers' job burnout is not effectively eliminated and alleviated, it will reflect the exhaustion of physiological energy, such as sudden changes in eating habits and weight, physical weakness, decreased resistance to diseases, endocrine disorders, susceptibility to various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, neurasthenia, insomnia and other diseases, and the whole person is in a sub-health state. Ideologically, it is manifested as boredom with life and disappointment with career.
The progress of society and the cultivation of talents are inseparable from the hard work of teachers. In addition to preaching and teaching, teachers are the first to set an example. Good physical and mental health will shape and influence students, make teachers have strong energy and optimistic spirit, and devote themselves to teaching activities with full teaching enthusiasm and pioneering spirit, which is conducive to the cultivation of high-quality talents. In recent years, the overall situation of teachers is good, but there are also some disharmonious phenomena. For example, some excellent teachers go out to teach, some try their best to jump ship, some run extra-curricular cram schools, and some join hands with off-campus institutions to collect kickbacks; Some teachers are not as responsible as before; Some teachers are anxious and anxious; Some teachers lack self-confidence. These phenomena also reflect the increasingly prominent problem of teachers' job burnout.
The harm of job burnout is manifold. First, it brings emotional troubles to teachers and gradually develops into a negative and sentimental mentality, which seriously damages and threatens teachers' own physical and mental health and seriously affects the quality of life of teachers. Second, the lack of professionalism and enthusiasm caused by teachers' job burnout will inevitably affect their teaching level, resulting in inefficient teaching and waste of school resources, thus affecting the improvement of education quality; Third, teachers' job burnout and the resulting indifference to students, discrimination and exclusion of some underachievers, and compulsory management of class collectives will greatly dampen their learning enthusiasm and creativity, bring harm to their personality development, and thus affect students' mental health and personality growth. At the same time, unsuitable students will bring a series of problems of personal social adaptation and development after entering the society, resulting in a waste of human resources.
Job burnout is a psychological disease, as terrible as a physical disease. Teachers' job burnout not only harms the physical and mental health and professional development of countless teachers, but also seriously affects the development of education and the whole society. People infected with job burnout are like fish without water, suffering from suffocation, which will definitely have a direct or indirect impact on students. Teachers with job burnout often lose patience and love for their students, reduce the adequacy of course preparation and reduce their sense of control over their work. They can't arouse students' emotional pleasure and beautiful experience, and can't arouse students' strong thirst for knowledge. In the process of communicating with students, teachers' negative emotions are often transmitted to students through their language, expressions and actions, and then students are cross-infected. In this way, teachers will only be tired of teaching and students will be tired of learning. "A century-long plan, education-oriented", education-oriented, teachers-oriented. Teachers' quality, especially psychological quality, is very important. Teachers influence every student with their healthy psychology. Compared with knowledge transfer and skills, their psychological quality has more important influence. Therefore, it is urgent to overcome the problem of teachers' job burnout.
Second, the causes of teacher burnout
(A) the pressure of social environment leads to job burnout. Social environment is an important source of psychological stress. Members of society expect too much from teachers, and students, parents, school and leaders at all levels, as well as others in society, all evaluate teachers by their enrollment rate. The expectation of the whole society is on teachers. In order to improve the enrollment rate, the education authorities and principals ask teachers for quality and scores through various forms. Parents' desire for success has turned into expectations for teachers, and schools and teachers are not allowed to make any mistakes; With the expansion of class size, too many exams and lectures also increase the workload of teachers; Teachers' professional requirements and social responsibilities make them bear great psychological pressure. "There are no students who can't teach, only teachers who can't teach" is a complete lie, which hurts teachers both physically and mentally.
2. Take on too many social roles. Teachers are also a multi-role profession, not only imparting knowledge, parents' agents, students' collective leaders, but also students' friends, friends and psychotherapy workers. In the face of so many roles, if teachers can't change roles in time, or can't adjust roles smoothly in the face of multiple roles, role conflicts will occur and work results will be affected. Psychological research has proved that the more roles an individual assumes, the greater the responsibility he assumes, the greater the possibility of psychological conflict caused by improper role conversion, and the greater the psychological pressure he bears.
3. Need to bear economic pressure. As a heavy burden of life faced by social people, teachers are ordinary members of society. Although their wages have increased to a certain extent in recent years, most of them are not rich and need to bear certain economic pressure. Teachers are human. Teachers also have parents to support and children to support. They put all their energy into others, regardless of their social responsibilities. Is the teacher still a complete person? In the process of social and economic development, the inversion of brain and body leads to teachers' psychological imbalance and great pressure, and the potential value created by labor and the promotion of social development are out of touch with teachers' meager salary.
In contrast, in real life, many aspects of teachers are not ideal, such as low salary, difficult housing, heavy burden and great pressure. Some teachers are emotionally unstable and have psychological fluctuations, so many reasons increase the work pressure of teachers.
4. The negative influence of public opinion and media on teachers. Teachers are a social group with high knowledge and quality, and the crime rate of this group in society is the lowest. At present, the media reports on positive education are not strong enough, and the propaganda of excellent teachers is weak, but they spare no effort to increase the propaganda of individual phenomena such as teachers beating and corporal punishment of students, school food hygiene, and unreasonable charges in education. Education really needs the supervision of public opinion, but too much emphasis on negative effects will inevitably make education face a dilemma. Teachers should not only satisfy students' lively nature, but also worry that children will be hurt in running and fighting. Once these situations happen, they will attract media exposure, public opinion and parents' condemnation. In this case, teachers are not like lofty soul engineers, but more like monitored faults, and the psychological pressure can be imagined.
The "Fan Paopao" incident occurred in the Sichuan earthquake on May 12 last year, which triggered a heated discussion on the Internet and major media. Even in the end, I lost my job. I applied for a job in a university in Beijing, and the school has passed the examination, but the school refused because of public pressure. Tan Qianqiu, a teacher who died in the earthquake to protect students, also attracted a lot of attention. He agrees that a vigorous death is more important than Mount Tai, and a fair death is worth living. This has misled the teaching profession in society. "When an accident happens, the teacher's death is deserved and necessary." If Tan Qianqiu goes first regardless of the students, he will be "Tan Paopao". Can this kind of professional publicity be free from psychological pressure for people engaged in this profession?
(B) Teachers' occupational stress
1, the working property of monotone repetition. The biggest feature of teachers' work is monotonous repetition, and then it will be very heavy and complicated. Generally speaking, the age and subjects of students taught by a teacher are relatively fixed. Although the teaching materials and syllabus have changed, they remain relatively stable, and the requirements and evaluation criteria for teachers will not change greatly. We do repetitive work almost every day, and some teachers even repeat the same work all their lives. Work is too regular, life is step by step, and it is easy to extinguish a person's passion. You have told the same article countless times. Are you bored? Although, in the specific teaching behavior, we can continue to carry out reform and innovation, but due to the limitations of teaching materials, examination syllabus and so on. Teachers' creativity is inevitably limited to a certain range, and it is easy to get bored and bored over time. Confucius once said, "Never tire of learning, never tire of teaching", and he was deeply touched by the wisdom of his old man. As early as thousands of years ago, he discussed the job burnout of teachers.
2. The pressure brought by the change of the new teacher-student relationship. In ancient times, our teacher-student relationship was to respect teachers and respect morality. Now, once a teacher conflicts with students at work, the ultimate responsibility is often borne by the teacher. As far as I know, when there is a conflict between teachers and students in this respect, no matter what the situation, the teacher is always injured. First, the education authorities severely punish the teachers, and then the teachers apologize to the society or parents and compensate the students, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands or even more. Some students colluded with their teachers. There was a video on the Internet recently. I don't know if you saw it. A student deliberately abused the teacher. The teacher was furious and hit the students. Another student ambushed beside him, recorded the process of the teacher beating the students and posted it online. Then, one by one, the poor teachers fell into the trap specially designed for her by these naive children. It is said that the teacher was fired.
In terms of laws and regulations, at present, there are few educational methods and means for teachers to shock students in China, while in the United States, punishment is written into the student code for students who have not completed their studies. For students who are too naughty, teachers can adopt educational methods such as "going to the wall" (standing on the wall, commonly known as "corner" in China). From this point of view, we need to face up to and consider how to clarify students' civic responsibilities, highlight the choice and application of educational methods, and let teachers do something according to law, so as to avoid teachers being overwhelmed by the word "responsibility". Due to the influence of the increasingly utilitarian orientation of society, the feelings between teachers and students are getting weaker and weaker. In this case, teachers should redouble their efforts in teaching, but the rewards are relatively small, which not only makes teachers exhausted, but also easily leads to job burnout. A public opinion survey conducted by American Education Association from 65438 to 0979 found that 3/4 of the teachers interviewed thought that problem students had a great influence on their educational efficiency, and it was difficult to discipline students, which had become the main factor of teachers' stress and job burnout. Especially with the changes of society, students' problem behaviors are increasingly produced, and teachers must spend twice as much time and energy to deal with students' problems.
3. The pressure brought by the new education system. In the past, being a teacher was an "iron rice bowl" no matter how hard and tired it was. With the pilot and implementation of the "last elimination system", teachers deeply feel that their sense of professional security no longer exists. They can only be competent if they work hard and make a difference in their posts. Therefore, on campus, many teachers always compete for the first place. With the deepening of the concept of quality education and the fierce competition among schools at all levels, the pressure of entering a higher school is increasing, not only in subject teaching, but also in various activities. Teachers should take part in various activities and competitions while teaching subjects; My continuing education and all kinds of continuing education and training; Before the professional title evaluation reaches the standard, the number of places given is small, there are many people who earn and rob, and there are many problems, which make teachers tired of coping. In addition, the reform of personnel system, the implementation of the waiting system, the socialization of teachers' qualifications, the evaluation of teachers by school students and parents, and the upcoming performance pay system are all obviously aimed at improving the status and treatment of teachers to a certain extent. These systems are actually "iron rings" on teachers' heads, which bring invisible psychological pressure and mental burden to teachers.
It doesn't mean that teachers without system management are the best, but it depends on whether the established system is really reasonable and fair to teachers. The current teacher assessment system is not perfect, which can not only arouse teachers' enthusiasm, but also make teachers' work mood more and more negative. In some schools, autocratic managers and "paternalism" and other practical problems lead to teachers' rebellious mentality towards their work and job burnout. It is inevitable that many teachers' work and achievements are often not reasonably affirmed and recognized, and their minds are distorted. Many policies are conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of all teachers, but this is not the case, and the phenomenon of different pay for equal work is everywhere. There are obvious artificial differences between teacher training and further study, and the evaluation and appointment of teachers' titles. The appearance of this phenomenon makes teachers lose their enthusiasm and sense of accomplishment, which inevitably leads to pessimism and loss.
(C) Teachers' personal quality is the internal cause of job burnout.
Although teachers' job burnout is caused by work, it is also related to teachers' incorrect cognition and bad personality characteristics.
First of all, misunderstanding of teachers' "perfect image" can easily lead to teachers' job burnout. For a long time, due to the high expectations of the society for the role of teachers, the role of teachers has become a perfect incarnation, such as knowledgeable, helpful, caring for patience, gentle personality, indifferent to fame and fortune, perfect personality and so on. Affected by this, some teachers equate the personal image in the real world with the ideal teacher image, have unrealistic high expectations for themselves, and try their best to play the perfect teacher image expected by society even beyond their own ability. This kind of "ideal" behavior, which is maintained by high tension and anxiety, will inevitably lead to the overload operation of teachers' body and mind, thus accelerating the generation of teachers' job burnout. At the same time, the misunderstanding of the "perfect image" of teachers also makes some teachers avoid seeking medical treatment, refuse to admit the job burnout caused by work pressure and the depression and frustration that everyone may encounter, and refuse to seek positive psychological support.
Secondly, the generation of job burnout is also related to teachers' self-evaluation and understanding of their professional ability. For example, some teachers often attribute the current situation of professional ability to uncontrollable external factors, give themselves negative psychological hints, give up subjective efforts, and lead to more and more loss of confidence. Teachers with this character, such as cowardice, withdrawn, narrow-minded, impatient, etc. , often make teachers unable to take appropriate strategies to cope with the pressure, over time, it will form teachers' job burnout.
In addition, the contradiction between teachers' personal expectations and work reality is also a cause of job burnout. Teachers' occupation is restricted by various factors, and it is often difficult to concentrate on creative work according to personal wishes. With the development of the times, some teachers can't keep up with the pace of the times, and they don't understand and adapt, which leads to anxiety and pain. In addition, teachers' work is not understood, sympathized and recognized by all walks of life, which increases teachers' job burnout.
Traditionally, teachers have always been regarded as "engineers of the human soul", playing the role of "silkworms in spring will weave until they die, and candles will drain the wick every night", which seems perfect. But from a psychological point of view, it is actually a negative suggestion. If a profession is at the cost of self-destruction, who wants to engage in this profession? In real life, teachers' psychological quality is not healthier than other professions because of the sacredness and particularity of their profession. On the contrary, psychological problems are more and more complicated. This is the real living state of teachers.
Third, the prevention and countermeasures of teachers' job burnout
There are many factors that lead to teachers' job burnout, and we should also start from many aspects to better solve the problem of job burnout. Teachers' job burnout is the result of the joint action of teachers' personal factors, professional factors and social environment. Therefore, these three aspects should make efforts and take certain countermeasures.
First, really improve the social status of teachers and let them feel the sense of honor in this profession. Teachers are still in the position of "vulnerable groups" in society. Leaders and departments should attach great importance to teachers' job burnout, care about teachers' physical and mental health, decompress teachers with practical actions, call on the whole society to respect and understand teachers, and strive to create a relaxed teaching environment conducive to the healthy development of body and mind. At the same time, giving full play to the macro-control and policy-oriented role of the government is also a particularly important way to solve this problem. In view of the high expectations of society for teachers, we should actively optimize public opinion, advocate new professional values, establish a reasonable level of teachers' expectations, and create a relaxed public opinion environment for teachers.
Second, really improve teachers' wages and benefits, so that they can feel the happiness of their careers. Teachers' job burnout is closely related to their low social and economic status and unsatisfactory treatment. In view of the low salary of teachers, the state should take the improvement of teachers' income and status as a reference and evaluate the performance of local governments through administrative regulation to ensure the gradual rationalization of teachers' salary. Therefore, raising teachers' salaries and creating a good economic environment for teachers' career are effective ways to solve the problem of teachers' job burnout.
However, we all know in our hearts that it is difficult for teachers' post competition pressure, industry evaluation management system, social expectations and welfare treatment to be fundamentally improved in a short time, which is beyond our personal power. Since you can't change the environment, change yourself! In the face of pressure, mentality is very important. "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror does not stand. Nothing, where is the dust? " We can't change the environment, but we can change our mood. Therefore, the key to overcome teachers' job burnout lies in teachers' personal efforts.
First of all, we must correct our mentality. Any kind of occupation for a long time may produce job burnout. The emperor is willing to sneak out of the palace for a long time, even if it is a private visit. Occupation is sometimes like a besieged city. The hope inside is extinguished, and people outside want to rush in. To realize this, we must accept our profession and accept the reality.
The teaching profession is a hard and dedicated profession, which is not comparable to that of senior officials or wealthy businessmen. Compared with their efforts, teachers' income is not very satisfactory. Teachers' work cannot be understood by everyone in society. You must accept these phenomena, because no matter you complain, feel distressed or feel inferior, you can't change it all at once. Since it cannot be changed, we must face this reality, accept it and adapt to it. Let nature take its course
An old lady has two daughters. The eldest daughter married an umbrella seller. The second son-in-law makes a living by selling straw hats. As soon as it cleared up, the old lady sighed and said, "The umbrella of the eldest son-in-law is not easy to sell, and the life of the eldest daughter is not easy." But when it rained, she remembered her second daughter again: "Nobody buys straw hats anymore." Therefore, whether it is sunny or rainy, she is always unhappy. A neighbor was amused and said to her, "When it rains, you think the umbrella of the eldest daughter sells well, and when it is sunny, you think the straw hat business of the second daughter is good." Aren't you happy every day? " The old lady listens to her neighbor's words and wears a smile on her face every day. Sometimes what bothers us is not the thing itself, but our view of it.
Teaching life, seemingly boring, simple repetition. There is fun behind this boring, and there are many changes behind the simple. There are no two identical rivers in the world, and the sun is new every day. The object of our work is a vivid life, a person with flesh and blood and feelings. They change every day. Seeing that students' learning has improved, their thoughts have changed and their psychological problems have been solved, we will be pleased to "give someone a rose and leave a lingering fragrance in our hands". We should learn to experience the joy of the process, turn the plain into the magic, and feel the teaching life with our heart. Recognize the gains of teachers' labor. It is the harvest of spiritual products, and it is the harvest that can't see benefits in the short term. Knowing this, you can experience the happiness of success in detail. Even if you are quite tired of teaching and can't stand it, you might as well try the magical use of "pretend" philosophy. When you pretend to be full of passion and infinite love for teaching, your burnout will be forgotten, and you will unconsciously fall in love with teaching and dialogue with your heart. In fact, work is beautiful, and busyness is happiness.
Secondly, lower your expectations of yourself and learn to compromise rationally.
On the surface, teachers' job burnout is due to repetition, but the deep reason is actually anxiety and irritability. People can't live without desires, but if they have too many desires, problems may arise. We should learn to make a more objective evaluation of our ability and knowledge level, and appropriately reduce our desire and expectation for achievements, so as to get rid of heavy loss, intractable grievances and nameless melancholy. Take a step back and broaden the horizon. It's good. There are always some unclear or unsatisfactory places in the world. In order to relieve psychological pressure and let ourselves have a good attitude, we might as well learn to compromise rationally. It is impossible for everyone to be the first in teaching, and it is impossible for everyone to have the most democratic votes. The teacher speaks with conscience. Everyone has his own principles of being a man. As long as you don't violate your own principles, everything is worthy of your conscience. Don't care too much about other people's comments and personal gains and losses.
It is necessary to establish reasonable career expectations and prevent job burnout. As a teacher, we should be aware of the possibilities and limitations of our profession, instead of just emphasizing the autonomy of our profession and the great responsibility of cultivating talents for the society. We should admit that we are an ordinary person, with worldly desires, joys and sorrows, and don't be disillusioned because there is a big difference between now and the expected goal. Only when teachers know their own advantages and disadvantages can they get rid of those professional myths and become a real person, not a saint in ancient books. Teachers should not expect too much from their students. Many teachers expect too much from their students. If students can't meet their requirements, they will be disappointed. In fact, students are growing up and receiving education, which naturally has shortcomings. Teachers should love students, pay more attention to their advantages, and treat students with a developmental perspective, which is not only conducive to improving the relationship between teachers and students, but also conducive to their mental health.
Third, learn to relax yourself and find ways to relieve stress. Relaxation refers to the process that the body or mind changes from a tense state to a relaxed state. When you feel constant stress, it is often better to relax for a few minutes than to sleep for an hour. In addition to daily relaxation methods such as walking, doing exercises, taking a hot bath, listening to music, chatting with family or friends, going to a beauty salon to change your hair style, or replenishing some water to your skin (you can also learn relaxation training skills to cope with stress), in case of anxiety or depression, you might as well try to rest for a few days, travel and get close to nature. Fresh air, pleasing scenery, birds singing and insects singing will sweep away the haze in my heart.
Fourth,
Seek psychological help. When teachers are threatened by pressure, they might as well discuss the current pressure situation with their family, friends or close friends, and establish more realistic goals with their help, so as to re-examine the pressure situation, and some negative emotions such as anger, fear and depression can be vented to a certain extent, which is very necessary to relieve stress and tension. In severe cases, psychological counseling and treatment can be carried out to win the necessary psychological assistance.
Finally, strive to improve their professional quality. Confucius once said, "It's a pleasure to learn while learning." He also said, "You forget to eat when you are angry, but you don't know when you are old." Although we can't all become famous teachers, just as people who practice calligraphy can't all become calligraphers, it's better to practice calligraphy often than not. Reading can get rid of troubles and forget them. With the advent of a learning society, reading and learning not only means acquiring accumulated knowledge and experience of human beings, but more importantly, acquiring the means of individual development and mental health. Re-learning will be fun.
The pleasure of reading can dilute the troubles of work and relieve the pressure of competition. Profound philosophy, diverse information, myriad images and changeable life not only bring comfort to teachers and changes in mental models, but also bring endless vitality and charm to classroom teaching.
-"Don't ignore gentleness because of too much busyness, and don't drown out enjoyment because of too many pursuits. Work is not the whole of life, unlimited scenery, in the depths of the soul. Stop your hurried steps and don't forget the blessings of life. "
In short, teachers' job burnout is harmful to individuals and to education and teaching. How to overcome their job burnout and maintain their enthusiasm and love for students is a challenge for teachers. As qualified teachers in the 2 1 century, we should educate and influence students with sound personality and healthy psychology, take them seriously, and strive to overcome job burnout.