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Chapter I

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

Teachers play a vital role in the learner’s development. They are known to be the

facilitator of learning which guides the learner in the learning process.

As front liners in the education arena, they are the one with first hand experiences

happening in the classroom. They are exposed to different circumstances that affects their

mental health or behavior.

The demand of work of every teacher is one of the primary cause of stressors or

worse burnout. Burnout is a state of where individuals experience over fatigue in what

they do.

Burnout is often seen as a combination of personality and work environment

factors. The exhausting demand of work of teachers creates unease emotions to them.

Burnout can be described as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and

reduced personal accomplishment that is experienced by people who work in a helping

capacity

Burnout is the cause of a range of negative outcomes for staff, organizations, and

consumers. Many studies have demonstrated this widespread issue among teachers

(Lizano, 2015; Siebert, 2005). Teachers often struggle with large caseloads, excessive

paperwork, and emotional strain from constantly handling client problems. Teachers are

continuously listening to the feelings and hardships of others. They are responding to
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crisis situations and are responsible for providing interventions to learners. The continual

use of empathy and concern for other human beings can be enormously draining on the

part of the teachers. Teacher burnout decreases the quality of the services provided to

learners, and turnover decreases the availability that these teachers have in order to teach

the learners (Siebert, 2005).

The heavy workloads coupled with their personal problems indeed are causing

teachers to experience burnout. In retrospect, this state decreases the efficiency and

effectiveness of teaching delivery hence putting at risk the quality of education being

delivered to the learners.

Teachers concerns are consistent with descriptions from Wagaman, Geiger,

Shockley, & Segal (2015), where low work performance, higher levels of isolation, high

work demands, and difficulties with people were reported as burnout workplace

behaviors. In public organizations especially, burnout can be very costly and puts a

burden on the budget, especially given the cost of training new employees when burnout

causes turnover. In a study by Acker (2012), more than half of the respondents indicated

having a high level of emotional exhaustion (56%), role stress (73%), and an intent to

quit their jobs (50%). As explained to one of the authors, certain staff members at the

previously mentioned agency have taken the initiative to develop self-care trainings, but

these are not mandatory for employees to attend. Self-care can be expressed in a variety

of ways depending on an individual’s interests or belief systems. In observing the number

of individual service providers who acknowledge a religious or spiritual belief system, it

would make sense to access this as an avenue for the prevention and intervention of

burnout.
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In the Philippines, series of deaths concerning teachers have been heard all over

the news. One of these news is from the Philippine News Agency about a teacher who

committed suicide in Leyte.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has called on teachers to manage stress by

maximizing the use of technology after a teacher in Leyte province committed suicide

reportedly due to “paper work”. (Meniano, 2018)

The suicide incident is a wake-up call for public school teachers to learn how to

manage work pressures, said Edgar Tenasas, DepEd-Leyte assistant division

superintendent.

“Making reports and preparing lesson plans are part of a teacher’s life. Indeed, it

is more convenient now with the available technology. We are luckier now because back

in the day, teachers had to produce everything in handwritten copies,” Tenasas told

reporters on Tuesday.

He was reacting to reports circulating on social media that piles of paper work had

prompted Emylou Malate, 21, a multi-grade teacher in La Paz, Leyte, to commit suicide

inside their house in Limba village last July 14.

M alate, single, was assigned to a multi-grade class at the Bagacay West Primary

School, an upland school some 5 kms. from the town center. Her first day of work was

last June 25.

Malate’s friends created a “Justice for Teacher Emylou” Facebook page. Its latest post

has more than 66,000 shares and more than 17,000 comments as of Wednesday morning.

“She took her own life thinking it was the easiest way out of all the gazillion

paper works a public teacher must all require to pass… Our main goal is to educate
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children and not those futile endless paper works that would just end up in the trash bins

after being checked,” the latest post said.

Tenasas said the incident has affected DepEd-Leyte’s field office tasked to supervise

more than 15,000 teachers assigned to 1,107 elementary schools, 149 secondary schools,

and 126 senior high schools in 40 towns.

“What kind of justice are we going to serve since nobody inflicted pain on her?

Preparing lessons and making report to track down learners have been part of teaching

profession for decades,” he said.

Tenasas said Malate is not the lone multi-grade teacher in the province since there

are about 500 of them.

A multi-grade class is defined as a class of two or more grades under one teacher in a

complete or incomplete elementary school. DepEd organizes these classes to offer the

complete six grade levels to children in remote communities with only few enrollees.

Tenasas also asked college schools to design a curriculum that would prepare

aspiring elementary school teachers to handle multi-grade classes.

This was the second incidence of suicide involving a public school teacher. The first was

reported in March when a female teacher was found hanging at the back of a classroom at

the Leyte National High School in this city. (PNA, 2018)

With these foregoing concerns among teachers in the country and with the

passage of the Mental Health Law, strong support should be given to address this.

Spirituality and religion within the teaching field and mental health fields are

being increasingly encouraged to be used in interventions with clients. Oxhandler and

Pargament (2014) report spiritualty and religion as wellness components that clients
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desire to have integrated into their treatment as part of the healing process. This emphasis

on the importance of spirituality and religion on client wellness could equally be applied

to the wellness of social workers and other service providers. Spirituality in this context

was looked at as inclusive of institutional religions (Christianity, Catholicism, Islamic,

Buddhist, Bahá’í, etc.) as well as less defined spiritual components, such as seeking

purpose in life greater than the self, transcendence, seeking inner peace, and attribution of

significant life events with a higher power.

According to the Department of Education code of ethics, teachers should not

allow their own personal problems, psychosocial distress or mental health difficulties to

“interfere with their professional judgment and performance or to jeopardize the best

interests of people for whom they have a professional responsibility”

Even with all the research and proposals that have been done on the effects and

interventions of burnout, it remains an issue in the field. This study aims to further

understand the topic of burnout with a focus on the spirituality of teachers and the

possible spiritually based interventions that can be used to reduce burnout. It will be

useful to research the ways in which personal spiritual practices have helped to alleviate

burnout as opposed to those who do not have strong spiritual practices.

In Isabela School of Arts and Trades, teachers have already experience burn out

because of the voluminous work load they have. This includes paper works, preparation

of teaching materials, other academic related activities coupled with numerous extra and

co-curricular activities.
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At present, the school has a total of 70 Junior High School Teachers. These

teachers comes from various soio-cultural background, emotional well-being and length

of experience.

Thus, this present study will delve deeper the concerns on Burn Out of teachers

and how they cope about it with the emphasis on spirituality as means to cope with the

problem.
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Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

This study is guided with the following theories, laws and concepts which the

researcher finds relevance to the research.

Burnout is not a simple result of long hours. The cynicism, depression, and

lethargy of burnout can occur when you're not in control of how you carry out your job,

when you're working toward goals that don't resonate with you, and when you lack social

support. If you don't tailor your responsibilities to match your true calling, or at least take

a break once in a while, you could face a mountain of mental and

physical health problems.(Carter, 2018)

Burnout is one of those road hazards in life that high-achievers really should be

keeping a close eye out for, but sadly—often because of their "I can do everything"

personalities—they rarely see it coming. Because high-achievers are often so passionate

about what they do, they tend to ignore the fact that they're working exceptionally long

hours, taking on exceedingly heavy work loads, and putting enormous pressure on

themselves to excel—all of which make them ripe for burnout. (Carter, 2018)

Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to: physical and emotional exhaustion,

cynicism and detachment, feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.

When in the throes of full-fledged burnout, you are no longer able to function

effectively on a personal or professional level. However, burnout doesn't happen

suddenly. You don't wake up one morning and all of a sudden "have burnout."

Its nature is much more insidious, creeping up on us over time like a slow leak, which

makes it much harder to recognize. Still, our bodies and minds do give us warnings, and

if you know what to look for, you can recognize it before it's too late.(Carter, 2018)
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Each of the three areas described above is characterized by certain signs and

symptoms (although there is overlap in some areas). These signs and symptoms exist

along a continuum. In other words, the difference between stress and burnout is a matter

of degree, which means that the earlier you recognize the signs, the better able you will

be to avoid burnout (IF you do something to address the symptoms when you recognize

them).

Signs of physical and emotional exhaustion:

1. Chronic fatigue. In the early stages, you may feel a lack energy and feel tired

most days. In the latter stages, you feel physically and emotionally exhausted,

drained, and depleted, and you may feel a sense of dread for what lies ahead on

any given day.

2. Insomnia. In the early stages, you may have trouble falling asleep or staying

asleep one or two nights a week. In the latter stages, insomnia may turn into a

persistent, nightly ordeal; as exhausted as you are, you can't sleep.

3. Forgetfulness/impaired concentration and attention. Lack of focus and mild

forgetfulness are early signs. Later, the problems may get to the point where you

can't get your work done and everything begins to pile up.

4. Physical symptoms. Physical symptoms may include chest pain, heart

palpitations, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal pain, dizziness, fainting, and/or

headaches (all of which should be medically assessed).

5. Increased illness. Because your body is depleted, your immune system becomes

weakened, making you more vulnerable to infections, colds, flu, and other

immune-related medical problems.

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6. Loss of appetite. In the early stages, you may not feel hungry and may skip a few

meals. In the latter stages, you may lose your appetite all together and begin to

lose a significant amount of weight.

7. Anxiety. Early on, you may experience mild symptoms of tension, worry, and

edginess. As you move closer to burnout, the anxiety may become so serious that

it interferes in your ability to work productively and may cause problems in your

personal life.

8. Depression. In the early stages, you may feel mildly sad, occasionally hopeless,

and you may experience feelings of guilt and worthlessness as a result. At its

worst, you may feel trapped, severely depressed, and think the world would be

better off without you. (If your depression is to this point, you should seek

professional help immediately.)

9. Anger. At first, this may present as interpersonal tension and irritability. In the

latter stages, this may turn into angry outbursts and serious arguments at home

and in the workplace. (If anger gets to the point where it turns to thoughts or acts

of violence toward family or coworkers, seek immediate professional assistance.)

(Carter, 2018)

Signs of Cynicism and Detachment

1. Loss of enjoyment. At first, loss of enjoyment may seem very mild, such as not

wanting to go to work or being eager to leave. Without intervention, loss of

enjoyment may extend to all areas of your life, including the time you spend with
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family and friends. At work, you may try to avoid projects and figure out ways to

escape work all together.

2. Pessimism. At first, this may present itself as negative self-talk and/or moving

from a glass half-full to a glass half-empty attitude. At its worst, this may move

beyond how you feel about yourself and extend to trust issues with coworkers and

family members and a feeling that you can't count on anyone.

3. Isolation. In the early stages, this may seem like mild resistance to socializing

(i.e., not wanting to go out to lunch; closing your door occasionally to keep others

out). In the latter stages, you may become angry when someone speaks to you, or

you may come in early or leave late to avoid interactions.

4. Detachment. Detachment is a general sense of feeling disconnected from others or

from your environment. It can take the form of the isolative behaviors described

above, and result in removing yourself emotionally and physically from your job

and other responsibilities. You may call in sick often, stop returning calls and

emails, or regularly come in late.

Signs of Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment

1. Feelings of apathy and hopelessness. This is similar to what is described in the

depression and pessimism sections of this article. It presents as a general sense

that nothing is going right or nothing matters. As the symptoms worsen, these

feelings may become immobilizing, making it seems like "what's the point?"

2. Increased irritability. Irritability often stems from feeling ineffective, unimportant,

useless, and an increasing sense that you're not able to do things as efficiently or
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effectively as you once did. In the early stages, this can interfere in personal and

professional relationships. At its worst, it can destroy relationships and careers.

3. Lack of productivity and poor performance. Despite long hours, chronic stress

prevents you from being as productive as you once were, which often results in

incomplete projects and an ever-growing to-do list. At times, it seems that as hard

as you try, you can't climb out from under the pile.

Due to the prevalence of burnout in the teaching field, an emphasis has been put on

developing prevention and intervention strategies to reduce burnout. To date, burnout

intervention studies have primarily focused on preventive efforts (Kim et al. 2011). These

findings support the need for both burnout prevention and recovery interventions. This is

supported by Dombo and Gray (2013) who stress that a model of self-care must be

holistic and target multiple levels to have positive results. The literature reveals an

abundance of preventative strategies that are suggested to avoid burnout, including

educational interventions to increase the capacity of workers to cope with stressors

(Moore, Bledsoe, Perry, & Robinson, 2011).

It is also maintained that teacher education programs should develop knowledge of

burnout symptoms and contain curriculum focused on preventative strategies, such as

communication techniques and coping skills. This includes the ability for organizations to

take more proactive steps to address the burnout issue through in-services and trainings

(Kim et al. 2011). A study conducted by Davis et al. (2013) revealed that the two most

frequently used coping strategies among oncology nurses were spirituality and

relationships with coworkers.

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Moore et al. (2011) studied the journals of social work students and created different

coping categories from the entries. In the mental and emotional self-care category,

activities with children was the highest reported activity, followed by daily devotional,

prayer, Bible study and attending church service. These came before taking time off work

and school. The high ranking of the spiritually-based activities in these journals furthers

the belief that spirituality serves as a key component to social worker’s well-being.

Burnout recovery interventions can be similar to the prevention methods, but are not

mentioned as often as prevention in the research (Kim et al., 2011). Therefore,

administrators and supervisors are encouraged to play a crucial role in supporting

employees who are currently experiencing burnout symptoms. Encouraging self-care and

aiding service providers to find satisfaction and rewards in their work appears to protect

workers from burnout (Ray et al., 2013).

Self-help groups or social networks can provide service providers with avenues to

share their experiences and offer mutual support. In settings that generate the greatest risk

of burnout, screening tools and interventions could be developed and tailored to social

workers (Kim et al., 2011). One of the main challenges with implementing prevention

and intervention strategies is the cost. Acker (2010) makes the argument that supervision

and other opportunities for professional development such as workshops, continuing

education, and stress management programs are dwindling because they are too

expensive to implement.

Compared to the literature that was available regarding burnout, the literature

referring to spirituality in service providers was less obtainable. This demonstrates a

pitfall, considering that in over 200 survey responses gathered from mental health
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workers (Parkes, Milner, & Gilbert, 2010), about 60 percent agreed that their personal

sense of spirituality influenced their daily working life. Recent literature promotes the

integration of spirituality into the biopsychosocial context of social work education and

practice; however, there has been no consistent model developed that would

accommodate for different belief systems while adhering to social work values (Moore et

al., 2011).

Moore et al. (2011) also point out that studies show a considerable number of

spirituality-based client interventions are being used by social workers in the United

States. Golden et al. (2004) surveyed 321 United Methodist clergy in the United States

and found that there is a correlation between the individual’s self-perceived quality of

spirituality and burnout. It was argued that the less connection that individuals feel to a

higher power, the greater the likelihood of burnout. They concluded that studying

personality and work environment alone do not give the same results. This claim is

supported by Ramsey (2001), who recommends utilizing spiritual values and practices to

reduce the harm of work-related stress and to increase the effectiveness of self-care.

Davis et al.’s study on oncology nurses (2013) demonstrates Ramsey’s claim,

wherein nurses who implemented self- transcendence, the concept of finding meaning in

life and death, were less likely to experience burnout.

The literature supports the recognition of the value of spirituality to help with self-

care and to ultimately provide better care for individuals accessing services. Parkes et al.

(2010) explain that the idea of recovery has changed to emphasize the importance of

psychological and spiritual health such as self- esteem and developing a meaning/purpose

in life. Clients are calling for services that give attention to their holistic care, including
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spiritual needs. Parkes et al. (2010) bring a new concept to the table, arguing that staff

should develop their own sense of spirituality so that they can fully appreciate the

spiritual needs and feelings of service users. This will enable staff to better empathize

with the client and to better utilize the client’s spiritual identity in their treatment. Some

suggested specific spiritual practices to reduce burnout.

Collins (2005) proposed practices that had specific Christian undertones, although

many aspects of the practices can be effectively used by people with a range of religious

or spiritual belief systems. Such practices include Sabbath keeping, finding holy silence,

expressing gratitude, expressing spiritual essence, developing a sense of compassion, and

embracing a principle of stewardship. On the other hand, Dombo and Gray (2013)

recommend more generalized spiritual self-care meditation practices. These include

spiritual reading, meditation, prayer, attending religious services, or anything that helps

the social worker to find meaning beyond self, meaning in relationships, and meaning in

clinical practice.

After researching literature regarding spirituality in teachers, the gaps in the available

studies emphasize the need for the proposed research question. While some articles came

close to addressing the issue such as the survey of mental health workers conducted by

Parks et al. (2010) and the connection between burnout and spiritual strength in the

clergy (Golden et al., 2004), there was no literature located that identified a connection

between burnout and the religious or spiritual beliefs of teachers. It would be very useful

to study the rates of burnout among those with strong spiritual practices as compared to

those who do not have a strong belief system or conduct spiritual practices. In this way,

this study built on the current literature in a valuable, yet different approach.
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Most of the literature supported the value of spiritual practices, both for the self-care

of the service providers and the clients or patients. There were not any specifically

conflicting ideas identified in the literature; however, there is an argument that previous

research on the causes of burnout is limited in its approach. Golden et al. (2004) claim

that present research in burnout must consider both situational factors and personality

factors. This does not match with the idea proposed by Maslach and Leiter (1997), where

they emphasize that burnout is a problem of the environment in the workplace rather than

the people themselves. The possibility that both situational factors and personality factors

contribute to burnout should be considered.

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Research Paradigm
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

A. PROFILE OF
THE
RESPONDENTS
1. AGE
2. SEX
3. YEARS IN
SERVICE
4. RELIGION
PRACTICAL
B. LEVEL OF IDENTIFICATION GUIDELINES FOR
BURNOUT AS OF THEIR TEACHERS,
PERCEIVED PERCEPTION ON ADMINISTRATORS,
BY THEM THEIR LEVEL OF GUIDANCE
C. COPING BURNOUT COUNSELORS AND
MECHANISMS HR PRACTITIONERS
DURING COPING ON THE
BURNOUT MECHANISMS IN STRATEGIES USED
ADDRESSING BY TEACHERS IN
BURNOUT ISSUES ADDRESSING
WITH EMPHASIS IN BURNOUT WITH
SPIRTUALITY FOCUS ON
SPIRITUALITY

FEEDBACK
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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to identify the coping mechanisms of public school teachers when

they are facing burnout in their respective workplaces.

Specifically it will aim to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents? In terms of:

a. Age

b. Sex

c. Years in Service

d. Religion

2. What is the level of burnout of the teachers as perceived by them?

3. What are the different coping mechanisms of teachers to address their burnout?

4. To what degree does spirituality is used by the teachers?

5. What guidance and counseling program can be offered to burn out teachers?
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Assumptions

The researcher used the following assumptions as guide in the conduct of the

study.

1. Teachers are facing severe degree of burnout due to the heavy workload and

problems in their personal life.

2. Teacher used different methods to address their burnout issues.

3. Teachers are employing spiritual strategies such as meditation, praying and other

methods to alleviate their burnout.

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Significance of the Study

This research will be of use and will provide benefit to the following:

TEACHERS. The research study will benefit the teachers because it will provide

strategies on how to cope burnout using spirituality as method.

ADMINISTRATORS. The research study will provide them insights on the cause of

ineffectiveness and efficiency of teachers because of burnout. Moreover, this will also

give them ideas to formulate Teacher Development Program addressing burnout issues.

HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER. The result of this study will provide data for

human resource officer to formulate programs and projects to address burnout issues

among teachers.

GUIDANCE COUNSELORS. School Guidance Counselors will be given a glimpse on

the issues concerning teachers and will give them insights to formulate programs to

address these issues.

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Scope and Delimitation

This research is delimited to the public school teachers of Isabela National High

School for the Academic Year 2018-2019. It includes a total of 70 Junior High School

teachers to be distributed with questionnaires to identify their level of burnout and their

different coping mechanisms to address such.

The data that will be gathered will be analyzed by the researcher and will be the

sole basis of the results and conclusions.

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Definition of Terms

This research study is taken carefully because of the sensitivity of some data.

Hence, thorough understanding of the concepts should be taken into consideration and

the need to have a clear and concise definitions of the terms used operationally and

conceptually.

BURNOUT. Burnout is often seen as a combination of personality and work

environment factors. The exhausting demand of work of teachers creates unease emotions

to them.

STRESS. Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand or

threat. When you sense danger—whether it's real or imagined—the body's defenses kick

into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the

"stress response."

SPIRITUALITY. Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some,

it's about participating in organized religion: going to a church, synagogue, mosque, and

so on. For others, spirituality is a non-religious experience that varies from person to

person—some people get in touch with their spiritual side through private prayer, yoga,

meditation, quiet reflection, a belief in the supernatural, or even long walks.

SCHOOL. An organization that provides instruction: such as an institution for

the teaching of children.

TEACHER. The one that teaches; especially : one whose occupation is to

instruct.