Explaining Teacher Burnout in Iranian EFL: Interactions between Classroom and Institutional Conditions

The phenomenon of teacher burnout has traditionally been examined through a psychological prism, focusing on individual coping mechanisms and personality traits. However, such a localized focus often neglects the broader systemic and environmental forces that shape an educator's professional life. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (EST), this research adopts an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to investigate the multi-layered sources of burnout among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Iran. In the initial qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ۲۵ EFL teachers to map the stressors across the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystems. Findings from this phase informed the development of the EFL Teacher Burnout Inventory (EFLTBI). In the subsequent quantitative phase, ۳۰۰ EFL teachers across various private and public institutions completed the inventory. Results indicate that while classroom-level stressors (microsystem) are prevalent, the most debilitating drivers of burnout reside within the exosystem-specifically, inadequate compensation, job insecurity, and a lack of institutional transparency. The study concludes that interventions focusing solely on "teacher resilience" are insufficient; rather, systemic reforms addressing the socio-economic status of language teachers are necessary to mitigate the attrition crisis in the Iranian ELT sector.

کلیدواژه ها:

Teacher burnout ، Ecological Systems Theory ، Microsystem ، Exosystem ، Teacher resilience ، Attrition crisis