Date of Award

2024

Type

Dissertation

Major

Doctor of Education

Degree Type

Doctor of Education

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Jessica Banks

Second Advisor

Lauren Neal

Third Advisor

Anna Hart

Abstract

The teaching field is a depleting workforce and more teachers are experiencing burnout, which is causing them to leave the profession (Marken & Agrawal, 2022; Nguyen et al., 2022). However, transformational leadership can improve job satisfaction, which can potentially reduce teacher burnout (Barnett et al., 2001; Erkutlu, 2008; Tian et al., 2021). The purpose of this study, grounded in Bass’ (1985) transformational leadership framework, was to examine the effect of transformational leadership on teacher burnout and to analyze the teachers’ perceptions of transformational leadership support. The study answered the following research questions: What is the relationship between transformational leadership and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment? What are the PreK-12 teachers’ perceptions of transformational leadership characteristics and transformational leadership support that can reduce teacher burnout? The research questions were answered using the sequential explanatory mixed methods paradigm (Terrell, 2016). During the quantitative phase, 85 PreK-12 teachers were surveyed using a digital survey that consisted of questions from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach et al., 2018), Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio & Bass, 2004), and a demographic survey. A bivariate Pearson correlation test was conducted and determined that there is a statically significant relationship between transformational leadership and each of the components of burnout—emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Semi-structured interviews were administered to six teachers. Inductive and deductive coding analyses were used to develop themes of effective ways administrators can implement to support teachers and alleviate burnout. The findings from this study can be used as a guideline for administrators to use in order to help reduce burnout throughout schools in the United States in order to address the teacher burnout epidemic.

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