TEACHER RATIONALITY, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES AND BASIC NEEDS SATISFACTION: DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS ON TEACHER BURNOUT

Identifying the underlying mechanisms in teacher burnout reduction and prevention is of crucial importance for today's' educators' wellbeing. Emphasizing the role of protective factors, the present study investigates the relationships between teacher burnout factors and specific cognitive, social-emotional and motivational variables. Eighty-one high school teachers (M-age = 42.48, SD = 7.97) completed questionnaires measuring their burnout levels, rational beliefs, social-emotional competencies, and basic psychological need satisfaction. Results show significant negative correlations between emotional exhaustion and basic needs satisfaction, and social-emotional competencies, and significant positive associations between need satisfaction, social-emotional competencies and personal accomplishment. Depersonalization shows the similar pattern of associations with basic needs satisfaction and social-emotional competencies, but is the only burnout factor significantly related to rational beliefs. Furthermore, rational beliefs mediate the relationship between basic needs satisfaction and depersonalization. Results also show that basic needs satisfaction is a significant mediator in the relationship between social-emotional competencies and all three burnout factors. Implications of these results in the development and implementation of teacher burnout prevention and intervention programs are discussed.