Correlates of Depersonalization and Cynicism in Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique opportunity to examine teacher stress in an uncharted context. In addition to the pressures of the pandemic itself, teachers have been faced with varying degrees of quality in the administrative responses to the pandemic within their schools and school divisions. Together, these contexts allowed examination of current theorizing about the components of burnout, with attention to the potential differences between cynicism and depersonalization promoted within these conditions. Here we present the results of a survey of 133 Canadian teachers who reported on their burnout components, attitudes towards change, and evaluations of their school and divisional leadership. Both correlational analysis of survey data and follow-up focus groups of 20 teachers who participated in the survey confirmed that cynicism and depersonalization are overlapping yet distinct components of teacher burnout which correlate with different variables. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.