Burnout und soziale Ressourcen von Grundschullehrkräften im Anschluss an die Covid-19-Pandemie – ein Vergleich zwischen den Bundesländern Bayern und Vorarlberg

Studies point to a variety of demands in the teaching profession that have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Depending on how demands and job resources are perceived, negative strain and further consequences such as burnout may occur. Studies have pointed to high levels of burnout among teachers before and during the pandemic. However, there are only a few studies on burnout levels and relevant job resources for coping with stress, especially comparing Germany and Austria after the end of the school corona measures. To investigate these questions, 178 primary school teachers from Germany (Bavaria) and Austria (Vorarlberg) were surveyed in late 2022/early 2023 using a cross-sectional questionnaire study on teachers’ negative strain in form of their burnout scores and selected job resources. Statistical analyses were performed using MANOVA and regression analysis. The results show that the burnout scores of all teachers are around the theoretical mean, with Bavarian teachers reporting significantly higher burnout scores than the teachers from Vorarlberg. Job resources are largely positive and do not differ significantly between the two countries. Nonetheless, the importance of certain job resources is highlighted in the regression analysis, as burnout scores are predicted by the country and by the job resource of the perceived relationship with the students from the teacher’s perspective. Social support within the teaching staff and other school- and person-related variables are not relevant for explaining burnout. The relationship between teachers and students should therefore receive more attention in teacher training and research. Although the results should be interpreted with caution due to the small and selective sample, they provide indications of country-specific differences in the burnout experience of primary school teachers after the pandemic. The article discusses divergent coronavirus measures in schools in the countries in theoretical terms, but does not take them into account empirically.