Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2015, Page 55

UPPELDI OG MENNTUN/ICELANDIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 24(2) 2015 55
GERÐUR ÓLÍNA STEINÞÓRSDÓTTIR, AMALÍA BJÖRNSDÓTTIR OG BÖRKUR HANSEN
An exploration of burnout amongst principals in
preschools and compulsory schools in Iceland
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent preschool and compulsory
school principals in Iceland experience symptoms of burnout. According to Maslach
et al. (2001), burnout has been an important concept since the 1970s and is currently
an established field of study, which has focused on the issue in various occupational
areas. These authors also claim that burnout is a stress-related disorder, usually clas-
sified in three major levels ranging from (1) mild symptoms of impaired occupational
functioning (distress), to (2) serious distress symptoms and temporal loss of occupa-
tional role (nervous breakdown), ending in (3) neurasthenia and long term loss of
occupational role (burnout).
Maslach and Leiter (1997) state that burnout is an individual experience influenced
by work context. They claim that individuals respond differently to work settings,
based on factors like age, experience, and personality. Furthermore, they claim that in-
dividual characteristics seem to have a stronger influence on burnout than situational
factors. As reported by Friedman (2002), research indicates that major factors influenc-
ing burnout among school principals are work overload, and demanding interactions
with staff and parents.
Various instruments have been developed to measure levels of burnout. One of
them, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), was used for this study. The CBI has
been adapted to cultural conditions in Nordic countries (Kristensen et al., 2005). It has
also been translated into Icelandic, as well as being adapted and verified for that con-
text. The CBI measures symptoms of burnout according to three dimensions: personal
issues, work related issues, and client related issues.
The CBI was sent as a web-based questionnaire by email to all registered compul-
sory school principals in The Association of Headteachers (Skólastjórafélagi Íslands),
totaling 165 individuals, and to all registered principals in The Association of Head-
teachers in Preschools (Félagi stjórnenda leikskóla), totaling 214 individuals. The
response rate was 50% for both groups. A few questions were added to the CBI in the
questionnaire, concerning background information as well as particulars about school
climate.
One of the major findings of this study was the difference in measured burnout
between preschool and compulsory school principals. Out of the preschool principals,
24% have experienced personal burnout and 13% of the compulsory school principals;
28% preschool principals have experienced work related burnout and 15% of com-
pulsory school principals; 29% preschool principals and 16% of compulsory school
principals have experienced staff related burnout. Of all the principals 79% showed
no signs of burnout related to students, and 63% experienced no burnout symptoms
related to parents.