An Examination Of Psychological Well-Being And Burnout Of Primary And Secondary School Educators In The Omaheke Region Of Namibia

ABSTRACT

Employment in education has been found to be one of the most stressful career paths around the world, with some of the highest burnout rates. The field of Positive Psychology have started to research this career path, because quality education is a powerful tool in ensuring economic, democratic and social development of nations. The National Association of Namibian Teachers Union (NANTU) states that many of the country’s educators want to leave the profession because of high job demands, negative job conditions and few incentives to retain qualified educators. The high prevalence of overworked educators and educators who leave the profession could be due to low job satisfaction and high levels of burnout.

The aim of this study was therefore to examine psychological well-being and burnout of educators in the Omaheke region of Namibia, which, per Namibian Secondary Certificate and Junior Secondary Certificate results of 2017, was one of the poorest performing regions in the country. The study employed a quantitative research approach, and instruments used were the socio-demographic questionnaire, the Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. The sample consists of 217 educators from 14 primary and secondary schools in the Omaheke region.

The results revealed that 22% of educators in the Omaheke region experience high levels of burnout and 18% of them experience low levels of psychological well-being. It further revealed that both primary and secondary educators experience the same levels of burnout and psychological well-being and that having worked at the same school for 5-9 years is the only biographical variable that has a significant association with burnout, where F (4, 212) = 4.2, p = .003. In addition, results revealed that the psychological well-being subscales of Environmental Mastery and Personal Growth have moderate negative correlations with all the subscales of burnout and that personal burnout has the worst effect on overall psychological well-being.

The study recommends interventions in the form of change in the education environment, increasing coping strategies of educators and providing therapy, workshops and coaching to educators.