High school students' burnout in the context of exam preparation: the role of the educational environment

Context and relevance. School burnout is a fairly new concept that is beginning to be widely discussed due to the need for intensive and continuous learning in today's society. Researches show that students with high burnout level are less involved in studying, demonstrate lower academic results, drop out of school more often, and are prone to depressive symptoms. Objective. To study the problem of school students' burnout in the context of preparation for the exams and to identify burnout-related characteristics of the educational environment in a sample of highly motivated Russian high school students. Methods and materials. Online survey of students using the “School Burnout Inventory” and a specially developed author's questionnaire. Results. The analysis of answers of more than 1000 high school students shows the presence of significant links between burnout and the level of academic load, additional education, subjective assessment of the quality of relations between teachers and students. Conclusions. Results can be used to strengthen psychological and pedagogical support of high school students and design managerial decisions regarding preparation of high school students for the exams, because prevention and reduction of burnout in school are important for both individual well-being of students and well-being of the school climate, and they can also matter for adaptation of former high school students to the university environment.

Supplemental data. Supplemental data can be requested from the author (L.R. Muradymova).

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