Burnout in part-time postsecondary faculty at Midwestern University..pdf

. Higher education institutions are relying more and more on part-time faculty, and are inclined to hire them instead of full-time tenure track faculty. It is important to retain this group of faculty therefore making it necessary to understand how teaching part-time impacts them. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine burnout among part-time faculty at a four-year postsecondary institution. The research questions were 1. What is the level of Maslach's burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment or reduced personal accomplishment) among part-time faculty at a four-year postsecondary institution? 2. What is the difference in the level of Maslach's burnout among moonlighters, freeway flyers, and auxiliary part-time faculty? Participants were 113 part-time faculty at a four-year postsecondary institution in the Midwest. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey, demographic questions, and open-ended questions. Overall part-time faculty experienced a moderate level of burnout, which is an indication that they experienced burnout a few times a month. Results of a MANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference in the level of emotional exhaustion between several groups of part-time faculty. Freeway flyers had significantly higher emotional exhaustion than moonlighters and auxiliary part-time faculty. See tables 1-5 for descriptive statistics and results of the MANOVAs. In the open-ended questions participants indicated that working conditions and students were the most stressful parts of working as a part-time faculty member. Conducting this study has helped to shed light on the dearth of research on non-medical part-time faculty at four-year post-secondary institutions, as well as has provided insight into how this population experiences Maslach's burnout. If part-time faculty experience burnout a few times a month then there is a stronger likelihood of the student learning environment and students being negatively affected. Thus, reasons for a moderate burnout level need to be explored. When exploring this phenomenon, the researchers recommend starting by looking at the conditions associated with being a part-time faculty member, such as low pay, a lack of benefits, not having an office space, a lack of job security, teaching a large number of courses, etc.