6 - Reframing Teacher Burnout in the Context of School Reform and Teacher Development in the United States

Summary

In this chapter, I intend to reframe the discussion of teacher burnout within the context of current school reforms in the United States. I've divided the work into two sections. The first presents an overview of school reform in the United States since the publication of A Nation at Risk by the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983. It begins with a brief history of recent school reforms and describes their salient features and foundations. It then explores what this all means for teachers as individuals and as members of a profession.

In the second section of the chapter, I look at the implications of these changes for the concept of teacher burnout. I draw heavily on Byrne's (1994a; and this volume) model to frame the discussion. To ground my thinking in real, rather than imagined and idealized schools, I present a case study of one high school that is now in its fourth year of reform. Central High, a “good” suburban school, represents many of the shifts in teaching, school organization, and teacher learning that are discussed in the first section of this chapter. It offers a rich opportunity for thinking concretely about the implication of reform for teacher burnout.

The Central High School case helps to reframe the organizational variables related to burnout in important and occasionally unexpected ways. It also leads to insights about how professional development can serve as a buffer against some of the causes of burnout.