Professional burnout of school principals of Secondary Education in Ileia: Demographic and professional characteristics

The school principal, as a manager with a decisive, demanding and multidimensional role in the effective functioning of the school unit, is particularly vulnerable to experiencing the burnout syndrome. The purpose of this empirical research study is to investigate the impact of the demographic and professional characteristics of the principals of the Secondary Education school units of Ileia on the level of their professional burnout. The survey was quantitative and was carried out with the "Maslach Burnout Inventory-Education Survey (MBI-ES)" questionnaire in the total of the school principals of secondary education in the prefecture of Ileia in April 2018 with a response rate of 98.5%. The results of the survey showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the number of the classes of the school unit and the dimension of principals’ depersonalization. Moreover, a statistically significant difference was found for the variable: the area in which the school is located (urban, rural), which did impact principals’ perceptions of their level of professional burnout both in terms of the dimensions of depersonalization and personal achievements.