Understanding the Relationship Between Work Intensification and Burnout in Secondary Teachers

Jul 15, 2026

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Cross-sectional research examines how work intensification affects wellbeing among Australian secondary teachers using the Job Demands-Resources framework. Non-teaching-related workload more strongly predicts burnout than teaching-related workload. Perceived organisational support moderates the link between work intensification and emotional exhaustion, highlighting organisational support as a key factor for staff wellbeing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

TEACHERS AND TEACHING [https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1544551](https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1544551) Understanding the relationship between work intensiﬁcation and burnout in secondary teachers David F. Lawrence, Natasha M. Loi and Boyd W. Gudex School of Psychology, University Of New England, Armidale, Australia ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study sought to investigate teachers’ experiences of work intensiﬁcation and wellbeing. Using the Job DemandsResources model as a framework, this study investigated the relationship between work intensiﬁcation, satisfaction with workload, perceived organisational support, and burnout. An Australian sample of215highschool teachers completed aconﬁdentialand anonymous online survey battery. Multiple regression analyses indicated that non-teaching-related workload was a stronger predictor of burnout than teaching-related-workload. In addition, the results indicated that perceived organisational support moderated the relationship between work intensiﬁcation and the emotional exhaustion component of burnout. These ﬁndings have important implications for teacher wellbeing and highlight the importance of organisational support for staﬀ. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 9 April 2018 Accepted 1 November 2018 KEYWORDS Burnout; teachers; work intensiﬁcation; workload; organisational support When employees face an increase in workload, including completing more tasks or taking on extra roles and thus ‘doing more’ on a day-to-day basis, this may be deﬁned as ‘work intensiﬁcation’ (Apple, 1986; Burchielli, Pearson, & Thanacoody, 2006) . Work intensiﬁcation has been observed in business, government services, health and education occupations (Dollard et al., 2012) and is experienced by workers as an increase in the pace and pressure of work (Korunka, Kubicek, Paškvan, & Ulferts, 2015). According to Deloitte Consulting (2014), the ‘overwhelmed employee’ is the ﬁfth most urgent concern facing organisations globally and steadily increasing workloads in knowledge industries is being exacerbated by information and communication overload, undermining productivity, and lowering employee engagement. A substantial body of literature chronicles what is claimed to be an ever-expanding workload for school teachers in many Western nations (Apple, 1986; Hargreaves, 1994; Van Droogenbroeck, Spruyt, & Vanroelen, 2014) including in Australia, where many show symptoms of burnout (Burchielli et al., 2006; Dollard et al., 2012; Easthope & Easthope, 2000) . The most inﬂuential deﬁnition of burnout was presented by Maslachand Jackson (1981) who deﬁned it as an aﬀective state characterised by three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation (called disengagement or cynicism for some occupation types), and feelings of low personal accomplishment in one’s work. CONTACT Natasha M. Loi [nloi2@une.edu.au](nloi2@une.edu.au) Psychology, University Of New England, NSW 2351, Australia © 2018 Informa UK Limited, t

Jul 15, 2026

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