Browsing by Author "Taipale, Maaria"

Objectives. Teachers' well-being at work has been on the surface for a long time globally and in Finland. Research on teacher turnover and turnover intentions has increased in Finland over the past decade. According to previous research, workload causes burnout and the desire to change career fields. Based on previous research, burnout is linked to turnover intentions and concrete career transfers. Social support has been found to have a buffering effect on the link between stress and exhaustion. Social support has also been found to have direct effect on work stress and job burnout. The purpose of this thesis was to provide new statistical information of the relationship between work stressors, job burnout and turnover intentions on Finnish primary education teachers. This thesis examined the effect of teachers' work stressors on turnover intentions both directly and indirectly through job burnout. It was also examined whether the rector´s social support moderated the relationship between work stressors and job burnout. Methods. The research data consisted of Finnish basic education teachers (N=675) working in grades 1–9. The teachers worked as class-, special education- and subject teachers as well as study advisors. Burnout was measured using BBI9 indicator and social support provided by the rector using COPSOQ Social Support from Supervisor indicator. Work stressors was measured using questions about sources of work stress, and turnover intentions were measured by asking about intentions to transfer to other work tasks. The connections between the variables were examined using structural equation modelling. Mediation analysis was used to test whether burnout mediated the impact of work stressors on turnover intentions. Multiple group modelling was used to examine whether the principal´s social support moderated the relationship between work stressors and job burnout. Results and conclusions. This study found that increasing stressors in the work of primary school teachers increase burnout. Job burnout fully mediated the impact of work stressors on turnover intentions and the social support provided by the rector did not moderate the link between work stressors and job burnout. However, the rector´s social support had a direct effect on primary education teachers´ work stressors, job burnout and turnover intentions. Rector´s social support affects teachers work-related well-being directly by those variables, but this study didn´t find its buffering effect on job burnout. Teachers need support early when work is getting hard because support lowers work stressors and burnout.