Teachers’ burnout is related to lowered speed and lowered quality for demanding short-term tasks

The present study addressed the relation between self-reported burnout experiences and objective performance in teachers. As an alternative to the distal long-term criteria that are usually used, we followed a new approach using tasks to assess samples of short-term behavior in simulated stressful situations. Tasks requiring low cognitive demand had to be solved in situations involving (a) task collision, (b) a hindrance of the scheduled course of action, or (c) awkward working conditions. Performance data and self-reported work-related experiences were obtained from 103 school teachers. Scales related to self-reported exhaustion revealed several significant medium correlations with objective performance speed as well as performance quality (between r = .23 and r = .30). Lower speed when hindered in their scheduled course of action and a lower quality of task effort under awkward working conditions were shown for teachers suffering from burnout.