Experienced burnout and teacher-working environment fit: a comparison of teacher cohorts with or without persistent turnover intentions

This follow-up study compared two teacher cohorts: teachers with and without persistent turnover intentions. Burnout symptoms including exhaustion, cynicism towards the professional community, inadequacy in teacher-student interaction, and perceived teacher-working environment fit in terms of received recognition and constructive work climate were explored. The longitudinal survey data included 1064 teachers from Finnish basic education (grades 1-9, age 7-16), of which 344 (32%) reported persistent turnover intentions in a five-year follow-up. Results showed that teachers with persistent turnover intentions experienced higher levels of burnout symptoms and decreased levels of perceived teacher-working environment fit than teachers with no turnover intentions. Moreover, in a five-year follow-up, a higher level of experienced teacher-working environment fit in the earlier career phase predicted a lower level of experienced cynicism towards the teacher community later in both teacher cohorts. Perceived teacher-working environment fit did not predict experienced exhaustion or inadequacy in teacher-student interaction. The results suggest that the teacher cohorts did not differ in terms of the internal dynamics and interplay between experienced burnout symptoms and perceived teacher-working environment fit. However, teachers with persistent turnover intentions had increased risk of becoming alienated from the professional community and developing burnout.