Trust in the School Principal: A Pathway to Inhibit Teacher Burnout in Elementary Education?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding the Influences of Social Relationships on School Community and Learning

Abstract

This paper relates trust in the principal at both the teacher and faculty level to teacher burnout, accounting for several teacher and school characteristics. The study contributes to educational research that deals with the importance of trust in school and to that investigating predictors of attrition inducing job attitudes among teachers. Results of multilevel analyses on data of 673 teachers across 58 elementary schools indicate that contextual school characteristics do not explain variation in teacher burnout. Teachers with low self-efficacy, a lot of experience at school, and low trust in the principal report higher levels of burnout. The findings suggest that principals who focus on developing trust with individual teachers might be successful in diminishing the level of teacher burnout.

Authors

• Dimitri Van Maele, Ghent University

• Mieke Van Houtte, Ghent University