A Comparative Study of Teacher Burnout in Regular and Special Elementary and Secondary Teachers

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent, if any, does stress resulting in burnout differ among regular and special educators. Three hundred regular and special education teachers in the public school systems of Chesapeake and Portsmouth, Virginia participated in the study, The regular teachers represented a range of educational levels from kindergarten to twelfth grade, The special education teachers represented a range of educational levels from pre-school to the senior high level and from self-contained classes to resource rooms. A 2x2 analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Rank ordering of the mean scores was also used. The educators participating in the study completed a survey on teacher burnout. The results indicated that the secondary special educators experience a significantly greater amount of stress than their elementary counterparts, as compared to the regular teachers in the study.