Teacher Burnout among Novice English Teachers in Turkish State Schools

In recent years, educational researchers have significantly emphasized teachers' psychological well-being. The concept of "teacher burnout" has gained prominence in studies related to foreign language teaching. It has been noted that teachers frequently experience burnout, especially during the early stages of their careers. However, the literature on burnout in foreign language teachers reveals that only a few studies have explored the connection between educational background and teacher burnout. The issue of educational background gains greater significance in the Turkish context, where graduates from various departments are qualified to work as English teachers. The main objective of this quantitative study is to evaluate the burnout levels of novice English teachers working in Turkish state schools and investigate whether these levels differ according to the graduate programs they have attended. Within the scope of the research, 55 novice English teachers were examined using the "Teacher Burnout Scale"4 developed by Richmond, Wrench and Gorham (2001) which measures the symptoms of teacher burnout. The data were collected through the questionnaire sent to the English teachers via Google Forms, and descriptive statistics were employed to measure the burnout scores of the participant teachers. The analysis revealed that most of the teachers had strong burnout levels, and there was no significant difference in burnout levels between teachers who graduated from English Language Teaching (ELT) programs and those from non-ELT programs. The results suggest burnout is a prevalent issue among novice English teachers, irrespective of their field of study at graduation.