Burnout among Physical Education Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools
Nikolaos Tsigilis, Eleni Zournatzi, Athanasios Koustelios

Abstract
The present study examined whether physical education teachers working in primary and secondary schools experience the same burnout levels. Four hundred and thirty seven full-time Greek physical education teachers from primary and secondary public schools filled in the “educator’s” version of Maslach Burnout Inventory. Two hundred and seven where teaching in primary schools and 230 in secondary. Multivariate analysis of variance showed that physical education teachers working in the primary schools reported significantly and meaningfully higher levels on the core burnout dimension, namely emotional exhaustion” in comparison to their colleagues in the secondary schools. Moreover, the strength of association among the three burnout components was more prominent in primary physical educators than in secondary. The paper shows that the education level in which physical education teachers are working represents an important job characteristic that influences burnout levels and should be taken into consideration when this syndrome is examined, at least within the Greek educational system.

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