Investigating the level of Academic Burnout Experienced by Student Teachers at Farhangian University, in the COVID-19 era and Exploring Ffactors that influence it (a Mixed Method Study)

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of academic burnout experienced by student teachers at Farhangian University and explore factors that influenced it, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted via a mixed approach using the explanatory sequential design. First, via quantitative approach and stratified sampling, all junior and senior student teachers (290 people) in Hashemi Nejad Campus responded to the standard Maslach Burnout Inventory-Students Survey. The questionnaire measures three dimensions of academic burnout, including emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and depersonalization as well as the feeling of lack of professional accomplishment. Then, via qualitative approach and intensity sampling, 25 student teachers were selected as participants for semi-structured interviews. Quantitative findings revealed that all almost of the student teachers (91.57 percent) reported emotional exhaustion over the last 2 years. Again, there is a significant relationship between student teachers’ academic burnout and their marital status, and habitat too. But, there was no significant relationship between student teachers’ academic burnout and their majors. In addition, there is a negative correlation between student teachers’ academic burnout and their GPA. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis (Ryan and Bernard, 2000). Qualitative findings revealed that the most important factors leading to academic burnout, include the structure and rules dominated over curriculum, the inadequacy of the existing syllabus for teaching and evaluation in the COVID-19 era, the quality of professors’ feedback, the lack of sense of presence in class, students intensive planning and lack of social support.