A Positive Model for Reducing and Preventing School Burnout in High School Students

Abstract

School is an essential institution that provides children with opportunities for cognitive, affective, behavioral, and social development; it equips them with the necessary qualifications for them to make their place in society and at work. Although one of school's most important functions is to help children in their learning processes (Zigler, Kagan, & Muenchow, 1982), this institution can become a stress factor (Chang, Rand, & Strunk, 2000) that causes students to experience emotional, academic, behavioral, and interpersonal problems (Erdur-Baker, Ozmen, & Ozmen, 2011). Students have difficulty concentrating on activities related to school (Jacob, 2005); their lack of concentration negatively affects their level of learning while damaging the academic and social aspects of their development not just in school but also in their future (Beaman & Wheldall, 1997; Little & Hudson, 1998; Stornes & Bru, 2011). For example, negative thinking and depression, avoiding academic tasks, lack of concentration, and fear of school are the most serious problems encountered at school (Poulou & Norwich, 2000). In particular, children who are in a demanding and competitive education system can find themselves in a process where they are forced to be under greater internal and external pressures regarding outperforming their peers.In addition to high grade point averages playing an important role in moving to the next educational stage starting with elementary school, students also face difficult exams that they need to pass. While moving to the next stage of education is challenging in that it requires a new process of self-adaptation (Anderman, Maehr, & Midgley, 1999; Anderman & Midglay, 1997; Bernd & Mekos, 1995; Rice, 2001; Simmons, Carlton-Ford, & Blyth, 1987; Wigfield, Eccles, Maclver, Reuman, & Midgley, 1991), this transition period, which comes after a rather painful process, makes students' new school life even more difficult. The transition from middle school to high school is one of the most important transitions in adolescence (Salmela-Aro, Savolainen, & Holopainen, 2009). When coming to high school with an accumulation of fatigue, boredom, and stress, students are under pressure to prepare for tests that will determine their future; it gives them serious direction in terms of their profession. In this process, they also try to form a sense of identity as a result of the developmental stage they are going through while trying to fulfill developmental tasks in terms of social, professional, and sexual aspects (Steinberg, 2007). Over one's school career, the high school years have particular significance for experiencing school burnout. Students' risk of experiencing school burnout increases at this time because of the negative influences from their accumulated experiences in the education system, as well as the from the stress and sense of tiredness due to the challenging and painful process when passing from middle school to high school. These things combine with the cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral turmoil of adolescence. Bask and Salmela-Aro's (2013) findings, based on their longitudinal study, confirm this view. They found that the burnout levels of high school students between 16-18 years old show an increase, and these students are at risk of losing their self-confidence and having their self-efficacy beliefs diminish.When students encounter excessive demands with respect to school and education, they start having difficulty meeting these demands. As a result, they experience intense stress and pressure. When students cannot cope with being under stress and pressure for a long time (Friesen & Sarros, 1989; Torun, 1997; Kacmaz, 2005), they develop burnout symptoms that stem from school (McCarthy, Pretty, & Catano, 1990; Yang & Farn, 2005). School-burnout syndrome, which leads to serious consequences such as depression (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009), school absenteeism, loss of motivation for classes, dropping out of school (Bask & Salmela-Aro, 2013; McCarthy et al. …