View of the interior of elementary school.

One Quarter of Czech School Teachers Feel Threatened by Burnout

Teachers showed higher satisfaction with their salaries now than in 2019, when their salaries were lower. Credit: Freepik.

Prague, Nov 15 (CTK) – One in four Czech elementary school teachers felt threatened by burnout in the past year, according to a survey by the Scio education consultancy. Some 3 in 10 said they were sometimes exhausted by teaching, but a vast majority of respondents said they were satisfied with their jobs. 

Scio carried out the survey in the last school year among 2,600 teachers from 90 Czech elementary schools, its communication manager Bohuslav Bohunek told CTK yesterday.

31% percent of teachers sometimes felt “exhausted” by their job and another 61% were “tired” from it.

Michal Dorcak, from Scio, said exhaustion was probably connected with burnout syndrome, by which 24% of respondents said they felt threatened. He said this was the negative phenomenon most often mentioned by teachers.

Other negative phenomena mentioned were aggressiveness of parents (12%), and vulgar behaviour from students.

One fifth of teachers agreed that children do not prepare for school lessons enough and one fifth were not satisfied with their facilities at school.

On the other hand, about 90% of teachers positively assessed the school management, behaviour of students, relations among teachers at their school and their opportunities for professional development.

The survey showed that 93% were either “satisfied” or “rather satisfied” with their jobs. However, a similar poll in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, showed that 97% were satisfied with teaching.

Teachers showed higher satisfaction with their salaries now than in 2019, when their salaries were lower. 35% said they were definitely satisfied with their salary and 54% were rather satisfied with it.

According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, the gross monthly salary of teachers at regional elementary and secondary schools was about CZK 50,000 in 2021, including all bonuses and rewards. The Education Ministry said there were 149,000 teachers at Czech regional schools, including kindergartens, last year.

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