Abstract
Teacher occupational burnout syndrome refers to physical and mental exhaustion, reduced participation and interest in students and negative self-image, due to excess chronic work stress. Our research interests in Physical Education teacher’s burnout, led us to examine in this study, their burnout stage related to recent years of socioeconomic crisis in Greece and intensified by the COVID-19 health crisis. A sampleof 51 PE teachers of the Educational Division of Evia was used. Burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1986). The study examines the relations of demographic characteristics, intention to change work environment, fatigue due to distance teaching and inability to achieve course objectives in the unprecedented conditions introduced by the pandemic. Three dimensions of the syndrome with their corresponding subcategories were measured and showed moderate emotional exhaustion, moderate depersonalization, and high personal accomplishment for the sample group. The documented elevated levels of fatigue due to distance learning teaching and the inability to achieve the PE course objectives were associated with increased level of emotional exhaustion.
