The Significance of Social Support in the Prevention of Teacher Burnout

Mag. Irena Demšar

Summary:  Like in other vocations characterised by work with people, teachers also face stress situations at work. Chronic stress may lead to burnout. The article primarily focuses on whether the support provided by the people close to the teacher (colleagues, superiors, partners, friends and supervisors) contributes to the reduction of burnout. We also analysed the work of supervision groups, and fi nd out that most teachers who joined supervision groups did so because of their want for an effi cient solution of problems, refl ection and discussion. Most of them were satisfi ed with the work of the supervision group, the number of the members, the number of meetings and the work of the supervisor. Nevertheless, the teachers included in supervision groups do not differ signifi cantly from other teachers in experiencing burnout.