An Analysis of Teacher Needs for Burnout Prevention and Recovery

This study aimed to analyze the needs of elementary and secondary school teachers for preventing and recovering from burnout. A total of 412 elementary, middle, and high school teachers in Chungnam Province participated in an online survey. The Borich Needs Assessment Model and the Locus for Focus Model were employed to analyze the responses for elementary and secondary school teachers separately. The results indicated that “loss of teacher authority and infringement of teachers’ rights” and “students' negative attitudes in class” were identified as top priorities for burnout prevention and recovery among both groups of elementary and secondary school teachers. Additionally, “excessive administrative work,” “students' emotional difficulties,” “parental complaints or uncooperative attitudes,” and “teaching load” were recognized as high-priority areas, although their order of priority varied between school levels. Specifically, elementary school teachers ranked “students' emotional difficulties” as the third priority, while secondary school teachers ranked “excessive administrative work” as the third priority. Conversely, personal factors such as “lack of expertise in teaching (or work)” and “difficulty in regulating one's emotions” were identified as low-priority areas for addressing burnout in both groups of teachers. These findings have implications for developing strategies to support elementary and secondary teachers in preventing and recovering from burnout.