Kenya: Exploring Burnout among School Teachers and University Lecturers

Abstract

Background: This brief is part of a series on teacher well-being and practices in Kenya. The work was conducted in part as a contribution to (i) the KIX Africa 19 Hub program of which Kenya is part, and (ii) a program of work at UNESCO IICBA on mental health and psychosocial support for teachers and university lecturers in Africa (that broader work program benefits from funding from UNESCO’s O3 – Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future). Key findings: This brief explores burnout levels and some of their potential effects among Kenyan university lecturers based on data from an online survey. - Burnout and its implications can be assessed through online surveys, albeit with limitations. For this brief, a survey of university lecturers was conducted in June-July 2022, with a total of 161 respondents (half men, half women). Results from the survey are instructive but have limitation as the sample is not statistically representative of all lecturers in public and private universities in Kenya. - The shares of lecturers reporting work-related issues are high. The most common issues are low renumeration, slow job progression, and being over-engaged with work, although many women also mention a lack of control in the workplace. - The potential effects of burnout include (from the less to more common effects) feelings of reduced personal accomplishment, depersonalization, lack of job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and a feeling of high workload. Burnout levels are lower in private than public universities, but with few differences by gender. - Three in four respondents have at least one support mechanism at work, the most common being a requirement to take annual leave as scheduled. However, most mechanisms identified in the survey are available to less than a third of respondents. At a personal level, when at risk of burnout, respondents use a range of mechanisms to seek support, including reaching out to people close to them. Yet most respondents have not sought professional support and just under two thirds have used at least one personal mechanism to avoid work-related burnout. - Encouragingly, the analysis suggests that the availability of at least one support mechanism at the university or the use of least one coping mechanism at the personal level seem to be associated with lower burnout levels than otherwise.