Teacher's beliefs and stress as a function of professional experience

The study investigated the relationship between teacher's beliefs, burnout, and age. Participants were 165 teachers from 12 Secondary Schools. Attitudes towards the teaching profession, sources of stress, burnout, teacher's efficacy, perceived personal competence, and coping were assessed. The results point out that teachers aged between 46 and 60 differ from the younger age group in coping strategies, sources of stress, and attitudes towards their profession. Burnout was related to believing in strong teaching efficacy, to a low perceived personal competence, and to perceiving working conditions as an important source of stress. The conclusion was that teachers' burnout depends on high teaching expectations and motivation combined with poor perception of personal competence to solve general problems. © 2004, Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.