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Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with Serious Intentions to Leave

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Abstract

In kee** with repeated calls to investigate high early career turnover within the teaching profession, the present study investigated the hypothesis that a significant positive association between burnout and turnover intention would be observed in teachers at the beginning of their careers. A sample of 112 Australian teachers working in their first or second academic year was surveyed in 2004. Respondents were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI: Maslach, Jackson & Leiter 1996) and asked about serious intentions to leave their job and/or profession. Meaningful and significant associations between serious intentions to leave and all three MBI subscales were found. The findings suggest a realistic and straightforward explanation for the alarmingly high early career attrition rates that are now commonly reported for the teaching profession in a number of countries.

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Goddard, R., Goddard, M. Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with Serious Intentions to Leave. Aust. Educ. Res. 33, 61–75 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216834

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