1 Introduction

The role of the teacher is continuously evolving nowadays, as teachers face new challenges every day. Teachers are expected to assume multiple different roles, such as being academic instructors of young people, meeting students’ social and emotional well-being and coping with conflicts and expectations of parents, students, administration and the community in general. As a consequence, there is a risk that all these overlapping roles may lead to low work engagement, low levels of self-efficacy, professional burnout and low levels of job satisfaction. Burnout (Antoniou et al., 2013), work engagement (Granziera & Perera, 2019) and job satisfaction (Perera et al., 2018) are assumed to directly affect characteristics such as performance, dedication and efficiency of teachers in general. How these factors influence one another is of major importance, in order to enhance the commitment of teachers to their job and to raise the effectiveness of a school unit overall (O’Brennan, Pas, & Bradshaw, 2017). It is worth mentioning that teaching has been ranked as a very stressful profession in numerous cultural and educational contexts. In the United Kingdom, it was ranked as one of the most stressful and demanding among 26 occupations (Sheena et al., 2005), while in Finland teachers seem to experience burnout more frequently (12%) than other professions (Saloviita & Pakarinen, 2021). In USA a percentage of 25% of beginning teachers quit the profession before reaching the third year of service and almost 40% follow their example within the 5 first years, since they feel that they cannot cope with the jobs’ demands (Chang, 2009; Milner & Hoy, 2003). Fewer than 10% of teachers remain until retirement in Germany and the case remains the same in Britain where the number of teachers that quit the profession before retirement is larger than those who stay until they reach retirement age (Macdonald, 1999). Notably, around 30% of the teachers in UK who began teaching in 2010 had left the profession by the end of 2015 (Weale, 2016).In Greece, studies report a correlation of burnout in special education teachers with the working conditions and demands and a negative correlation with the aspects of job satisfaction, showing that teachers find it difficult to be engaged and focus on their job (Antoniou et al., 2006; Vousiopoulos, Kouli, Kourtessis, Tsitskari, & Tsitskari, 2019). In Cyprus, where the educational system is comparatively similar to the Greek one, the levels of emotional exhaustion are even more severe (Kokkinos, 2006, 2007). Thus, it is important to understand how work engagement and job satisfaction may contribute to burnout in the case of school teachers, if the aim is to assist teachers to become more involved and dedicated to their profession.

Burnout is a multifactorial concept that is not linked to one specific factor. On the contrary, it is a dynamic process formulated by numerous interactions and dimensions between a person and the conditions of his work environment (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). Exploring the ways in which the concepts of work engagement and job satisfaction could affect the levels of burnout could assist in developing methods of supporting the feeling of teachers’ so as to prevent burnout and helping them become more involved with the job and dedicated to his duties, while, in the meantime, he could be drawing satisfaction on the results from his work. Parameters such as job satisfaction, burnout and work engagement seem to be related to teachers’ strong beliefs of their teaching efficacy because they promote students’ self-regulation and learning outcomes (Antoniou et al., 2017).

The current study focuses on understanding and revealing the relationships between the different variables of burnout, work engagement and job satisfaction and to propose and evaluate a model, in order to get insights of the relationship between these parameters. The goals of the study are to pinpoint the factors that play the major role in lowering the levels of burnout, in order to help teachers, become more involved and engaged to their work. The results will hopefully provide useful information in order to reform the work conditions and requirements, aiming at the professional thriving of the teaching process.

2 Theoretical Background

2.1 Burnout

The burnout syndrome can be described as a state of frustration and fatigue that is usually caused by the devotion to a specific cause or appears when occupational stress factors turn into long-term unresolved issues. It progressively leads to the wearing out of energy and the loss of purpose, as a result of the conditions of the work environment. Finally, it leads to the wearing down of the person (Ahola & Hakanen, 2007). The professions that are emotionally demanding may cause the emotional, physical and mental exhaustion of the employee and the experience of such a condition is defined as burnout (Saiiari et al., 2011).

According to Maslach and Jackson (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), exhaustion is defined by three dimensions. The first one is the emotional exhaustion, due to emotional overload and depression resulting from work. It denotes the feeling of being overloaded at work. The second one, is the depersonalization, that refers to the cynical attitude that an employee may develop towards people who are the recipients of his services and the last one, is the lack of personal achievement, because of the feeling of incompetence that the employee acquires from his offer in the workplace, leading to the consequent reduction of his performance.

It is common for burnout to be associated with the erosion of the positive psychological state and it is believed that it is caused by accumulated stress due to the increased demands of everyday life (Schaufeli et al., 2009). The link between burnout and the teaching profession has been proven by various studies worldwide, as teachers are vulnerable to intense stress in the exercise of their profession (McLean et al., 2019; Milfont et al., 2008; Robinson et al., 2019).The importance and gravity of the work that teachers perform, often has a negative impact on their own psyche. For this reason, they often suffer from burnout, they feel deprived of the necessary psycho-emotional resources, like the emotional strength to handle the behavioral problems they face. Thus, they gradually develop low self-esteem, even apathy, as well as the desire to distance themselves from the "difficult" cases in their classes (Egyed & Short, 2006).

Teachers generally experience the feeling of exhaustion that comes from their work and is associated with depersonalization and failure to achieve personal fulfillment. Burnout is also associated with emotional exhaustion, which means that teachers may feel exhausted from their profession, although they are not alienated from it (Kitchel et al., 2012). In Greece there are low levels of teachers’ burnout, compared to similar figures from abroad (Antoniou et al., 2006; Papastylianou et al., 2009). An interesting question is whether secondary school teachers show higher levels of burnout in comparison to primary school teachers, with characteristics such as less personal achievement and more depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. At the same time, research has shown that a key indicator of teachers' mental and physical health is the satisfaction they receive from their work (Antoniou et al., 2013).

2.2 Work Engagement

Work engagement is defined as the utilization of an individual's potential in the successful fulfillment of his professional obligations and roles, through which he can express himself physically, emotionally and mentally. To be more specific, it refers to the study of the psychological possibilities that are developed in order to improve the work performance, having in mind the positively oriented behavior of a person (Kahn, 1990).

Work engagement is a process of dynamic and dialectical relationship between the individual and his work role, in order to express himself through his profession (Bakker, Demerouti, & ten Brummelhuis, 2012). However, when a person is disconnected from his job role, then he is led to a state of personal release and disengagement from the profession, having a defensive attitude towards his workplace and acquiring a cynical and mechanical behavior, reminiscent of the case of burnout (Albrecht et al., 2015).

The disconnection of the individual from his job role, which is associated with low indicators in the evaluation of work engagement, is linked to the syndrome of burnout. There is the opinion that work engagement is the opposite of burnout, presenting an inversely proportional relationship between them. The employee who shows reduced professional commitment, shows signs of exhaustion, cynicism and reduced professional competence, indicators which are associated with corresponding high rates of burnout (Maslach et al., 2001). On the other hand, work engagement cannot be so easily considered as the opposite concept of burnout, since it relies on a different structure, since it is defined as a positive fulfilling work-related state of mind (González-Romá, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Lloret, 2006a; Schaufeli et al., 2002).

According to the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale there are three related factors of work engagement: vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002, 2006), Vigor is used to describe the willingness to persevere when confronted with challenges and refers to high levels of energy and mental resilience at work, dedication is the scale of involvement in one’s work and the way to experience a sense of significance, enthusiasm and pride at work and absorption is defined as the level of concentration on one’s work and the happiness that one draws from his job. It is suggested, though, that the core elements of work engagement are vigor and dedication, while absorption is not actually a dimension of engagement but rather an outcome of it (González-Romá et al., 2006; Prieto et al., 2008).

2.3 Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is correlated with all the things a person expects to receive from his job and the ones he ultimately accepts from his work. It is considered to be the internal reaction of a person against the perception of working conditions, an internal reaction consisting of a system of norms, values ​​and expectations of the individual (Schneider & Snyder, 1975). The concept of job satisfaction can be considered as an enjoyable emotional state, which originates from achieving and facilitating the fulfilment of a person’s work values (Bhatti, M, Shaikh, H, & Shaikh, 2012).

Factors that play an important role in the shaping of job satisfaction concern work as well as individual and demographic characteristics. The amount of money earned, the existence of motives, good work environment conditions and the possibility of employee participation in the making of decisions can be classified as work characteristics. On the other hand, the mental endurance in the face of difficulties, the belief of controlling, influencing and shaping situations and the tendency to experience things from a positive perspective can be considered as individual characteristics. Concerning the demographic characteristics, studies revealed that factors like age, gender, marital status, educational level and previous working experience seem to play an important role in shaping the levels of job satisfaction (Macey & Schneider, 2008; Piko, 2006; Sariçam & Sakiz, 2014).

In the case of education, job satisfaction is also related to a number of factors, such as the teacher's performance, the quality of his teaching and its effect on students, the teacher's organizational commitment and his stay in the profession, the levels of burnout and the quality of life in general. Job satisfaction can be used as an indicator of a teachers’ wellbeing, revealing what one expects from teaching and what the teaching profession offers to the teacher (Alsiewi & Agil, 2014; Koustelios & Tsigilis, 2005).

3 Aim of the Study

Despite the efforts of governments to keep up with the constant increase of children with special educational needs and disabilities by increasing the numbers of special educational needs teachers, research widely reports that children with special educational needs and disabilities do not receive the necessary support. This results in children with special educational needs and disabilities been removed from main education and increasingly been placed in special schools or been homeschooled. This contradicts the legal obligations set by the European Union, which has set the guidelines for children with special educational needs and disabilities inclusion in mainstream education.

Research reports that one of the most important reasons that children are failed by the educational system is teachers' ineffectiveness. In an effort to enhance teachers' effectiveness in mainstream education, an increasing interest is widely reported in terms of perceived Teaching Self Efficacy (TSE) by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the European Programs in Life-long learning (http://www.pro-skills.eu/el) and the European Commission (Caena, 2013). TSE has also been emphasized on policy making in terms of developing teachers and effective teaching (OECD, 2015) while policy agenda in many countries highlights that teachers’ training needs should be determined aiming to build confidence linked to teachers' self-efficacy in order to target individual student outcomes and offer increased support (Ellis, Graham-Matheson, & Tod, 2008).

Following the growing recognition of the importance of TSE, research has turned the attention to work-engagement, burnout and job satisfaction (Iroegbu et al., 2016; Morin et al., 2015; Ronfeldt et al., 2018) while educational government policy-making has increased the focus on research data related to work-engagement, burnout and job satisfaction (Klassen & Tze, 2014). However, there is no evidence that TSE is applied in the field of special education or teachers' training development in the Greece. This research will be the first to explore and define special educational needs and disabilities teachers' work engagement, burnout and job satisfaction. Consequently, we cannot design training programs and support teachers without considering their individual characteristics regarding aspects of their work-engagement, burnout and job satisfaction.

Our overall aim is to conduct research which focuses on special educational needs and disabilities teachers' work engagement, burnout and job satisfaction in order to primarily support special educators' in the Greece and, as a consequence, to improve the educational support provided to children with special educational needs and disabilities. Based on the previous studies, this study aims to answer the following research questions:

  1. 1.

    Which are the predictors of special education needs and disabilities teachers’ work engagement?

4 Method

4.1 Sample

The sample consisted of 459 primary school teachers and 205 secondary school teachers. Most participants were women (75.8%, n = 503) while males represented 24.2% (n = 161) of the sample. 481 (72%) of the participants were residents of urban areas whereas 183 (28%) residents of suburban areas. The majority of the participants were married (n = 378, 56.9%), 212 (31.9%) participants were single, and the rest 11.3% (n = 74) indicated that they were engaged, divorced, widowed or categorized as “other”. Concerning the age categories, 148 (22.3%) were between 25 and 35 years old, 165 (24.8%) were between 36 and 45 years old, 275 (41.4%) were between 46 and 55 years and the rest 76 (11.4%) declared that they were between 56–65 years old.

4.2 Measures

The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first part was used to collect basic demographic information. The participants were asked about their gender, place of residence, grade of education – Primary or Secondary – they are employed in, as well as their marital status and their age.

  1. (1)

    M.B.I. (Maslach Burnout Inventory) (Maslach et al., 1986) adapted in Greek (Kokkinos, 2006). The MBI is a widely used instrument which measures the way in which employees perceive their work. The questionnaire includes 22 items in a 7–point Likert scale type questions (0 = never to 6 = every day). The items are divided into three dimensions: a) Emotional exhaustion (e.g. “I feel emotionally drained from my work”), b) Depersonalization (e.g. “I feel I treat some students as if they were impersonal objects”) and c) Personal accomplishment (e.g. “I accomplish many worthwhile things in this job”). The reliability for each subscale was tested through Cronbach’s α, reaching the value of 0.86 for Emotional Exhaustion, 0.74 for Depersonalization and 0.80 for the case of Personal Achievements.

  1. (2)

    UWES-17 (17-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003). The scale consists of 17 items of a 7 – grade scale Likert type questions (0 = not at all; 6 = daily) measuring the three related factors of vigor (e.g. “At my work I feel bursting with energy”), dedication (e.g. “My job inspires me”) and absorption (e.g. “I feel happy when I am working intensely”). As far as Cronbach’s α is concerned, the three subscales had the value of 0.89 for Vigor, 0.91 for Dedication and 0.85 for Absorption.

  2. (3)

    Warr–Cook–Wall Job Satisfaction Scale (Warr et al., 1979). The instrument consists of 15 items with a7 – point Likert Scale (1 = totally dissatisfied; 7 = totally satisfied), measuring different elements of intrinsic (e.g. “I am satisfied with the responsibilities I have”) and extrinsic (e.g. “I am satisfied with my salary”) job satisfaction. The measures of Cronbach’s α reached the value of 0.85 for the case of Intrinsic Satisfaction and 0.79 for the Extrinsic.

4.3 Procedure

The data were collected by sending online questionnaire surveys to several schools, between June 2019 and December 2019. Questionnaires were sent to both schools in urban and suburban areas. An information email was sent to the school principal to regarding the research aims and to request to forward the questionnaire to the schools’ teachers.

5 Results

5.1 Preliminary Analysis

Table 1 presents the demographic data and information regarding the participants of the questionnaire.

Table1 Demographic Data
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The residence of 72.4% (n = 481) of the participants were urban areas and the rest (27.6%, n = 183) were from suburban areas. As long as the grade of education is concerned, 69.1% (n = 459) were employed in Primary (Elementary) schools and 30.9% (n = 205) in Secondary (High) schools. Most of the participants were married (56.9%, n = 378), 31.9% (n = 212) declared that they were single, 6.5% (n = 43) were divorced, 0.8% (n = 5) were widowed, 0.5% (n = 3) were engaged and 3.5% (n = 23) indicated other marital status. In respect to the age range of the participants, 22.3% (n = 148) were between 25 and 35 years old, 24.8% (n = 165) were about 36 to 45 years old, the majority (41.4%, n =275) were between 46 and 55 years old and the rest (11.4%, n = 76) were in the age range of 56 – 65.

Table 2 contains the descriptive characteristics and the Cronbach α internal reliability of the three measures of this research.

Table 2 Descriptive characteristics of the scales
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A reliability check was carried out through Cronbach’s α, in order to determine the reliability of the data collection tools and their individual parts. Rates that are above 0.6 are to be considered satisfactory, ensuring the consistency and internal validity of the responses. In Table 2 one can see that Cronbach α was larger than the value 0.6 for all the items on all three instruments.

The examination of the burnout dimensions shows that there is a mean level of emotional exhaustion of M = 21.31 (SD = 10.26), a depersonalization score of M = 6.09 (SD = 4.98) and a mean value of M = 36.93 (SD = 6.54) for the personal accomplishments (Maslach et al., 1986).

In the case of work engagement, all items achieve high scores and specifically vigor has a mean value of 28.19 (SD = 5.77), dedication has a mean value of 24.92 (SD = 4.95) and absorption scores a mean value of 26.88 (SD = 6.06). The two dimensions of job satisfaction score a mean value of 33.03 (SD = 7.82) and 36.95 (SD = 8.51) for the intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction respectively.

Table 3 presents the correlations among all dependent variables of the three measuring tools. The findings suggest several significant correlations among the study scales.

Table 3 Correlation analysis
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Correlation analysis indicated statistically significant correlations among all subscales of Work Engagement, Job Satisfaction and Burnout (Table 3).

5.2 Factor Analysis

Initial data screening identified no univariate outliers for all measures. The sample size (n = 664) of the study can be considered as satisfactory for Factor Analysis. Below are presented in detail psychometric properties for each measure and goodness indices generated by CFA.

5.3 Maslach Burnout Inventory (M.B.I.)

Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO = 0.947 > 0.500) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity [χ2(231) = 5627.014, p = 0.000] were significant, indicating that items in can share a common factor. Results from Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a 3-factor solution explaining 50,065% of total variance. The initial eigenvalues of Factor_1, Factor_2 and Factor_3 were formed at 6,913,2,646 and 1,456, respectively, indicating unidimensionality of the extracted factors. Communalities ranged from 0.669 to 0.771. All goodness of fit indices generated by CFA were found satisfactory (TLI = 0.974 > 0.95, RMSEA = 0.064 < 0.08, CFI = 0.946 ≥ 0.90, χ2/df < 2, p > 0.05 and SRMR = 0.061 < 0.08).

5.4 Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (17-item)

Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO = 0.957 > 0.500) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity [χ2(136) = 8346.423, p = 0.000] were significant, indicating that items in can share a common factor. Results from Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a 3-factor solution explaining 67,343% of total variance. The initial eigenvalues of Factor_1, Factor_2 and Factor_3 were formed at 9,809, 2,096 and 1,042, respectively, indicating unidimensionality of the extracted factors. Communalities ranged from 0.603 to 0.818. All goodness of fit indices generated by CFA were found satisfactory (TLI = 0.981 > 0.95, RMSEA = 0.056 < 0.08, CFI = 0.976 ≥ 0.90, χ2/df < 2, p > 0.05 and SRMR = 0.046 < 0.08).

5.5 Warr–Cook–Wall Job Satisfaction Scale

Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO = 0.914 > 0.500) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity [χ2(105) = 4667.353, p = 0.000] were significant, indicating that items in can share a common factor. Results from Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a 2-factor solution explaining 60,297% of total variance. The initial eigenvalues of Factor_1 and Factor_2 were formed at 6,521 and 1,483, respectively, indicating unidimensionality of the extracted factors. Communalities ranged from 0.496 to 0.767. All goodness of fit indices generated by CFA were found satisfactory (TLI = 0.957 > 0.95, RMSEA = 0.074 < 0.08, CFI = 0.923 ≥ 0.90, χ2/df < 2, p > 0.05 and SRMR = 0.073 < 0.08).

5.6 Predictors of Special Education Teachers Work Engagement

Firstly, we performed a two-step hierarchical regression in order to generate the predictors of special education teachers’ work engagement. Statistically significant results were found for in both steps. In the first step, five variables were entered into the model (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal achievements, intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction). Analysis suggested a statistically significant model predicting 55.1% of total variance (F(5, 656) = 160.723, p = 0.000, R2 = 0.551). Afterwards, we added and the demographic variables (gender, residence, type of school, grade of education, marital status and age range) assessing teachers’ personal characteristics to Model 2 (F(11, 650) = 77.442, p = 0.000, R2 = 0.767, ΔR2 = 0.216), which explained an additional 21.6% of total variance. Results are presented in detail in Table 4.

Table 4 Summary of hierarchical regression for variables predicting teachers’ Work Engagement
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5.7 Measurement model– A two-step hierarchical linear regression analysis

For the needs of the present study we relied on JD-R model proposed by Han, Yin, Wang & Zhang (Han et al., 2020) and constructed a model to evaluate the effect of parameters such as job satisfaction and burnout on teachers’ work engagement. In the first step, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit (TLI = 0.974 > 0.95, RMSEA = 0.043 < 0.08, CFI = 0.952 ≥ 0.90, χ2/df = 1. 3 < 2, p > 0.05 and SRMR = 0.027 < 0.08) of the proposed 3-factor model (WE-JS-BO) (Fig. 1). Total variance explained for work engagement was formed at 0.27, for job satisfaction at 0.32 and for Burnout at 0.19. Linear regression analysis showed that work engagement was negatively related to burnout (β = −0.36) and positively related to job satisfaction (β = 0.26). Moreover, burnout was negatively related to job satisfaction (β = −0.19).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Path analysis results of the hypothesized model

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In the second step, we attempted to extend the existing model through including demographic parameters. Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested a good fit (TLI = 0.974 > 0.95, RMSEA = 0.043 < 0.08, CFI =0.952 ≥ 0.90, χ2/df = 1. 3 < 2, p > 0.05 and SRMR = 0.027 < 0.08) of the proposed 4-factor model (WE-JS-BO-Personal Characteristics) (Fig. 2). Linear regression analysis showed that work engagement was negatively related to burnout (β = −0.68) and positively related to job satisfaction (β = 0.74) and teachers’ personal characteristics (β =0.71). Moreover, burnout was negatively related to job satisfaction (β = −0.47).

Fig. 2
figure 2

Path analysis results of the 2nd hypothesized model

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6 Discussion

In this research, the main aim is to examine the way in which burnout and job satisfaction mediate to the work engagement in the case of Greek teachers. Concerning the first hypothesis, one can see that the results support the hypothesis since work engagement exhibits an inverse correlation with burnout (β = −0.68). Although some previous works showed that the two processes were probably independent of each other (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Schaufeli & Taris, 2014), some researchers have pointed out the mediation role of burnout concerning the engagement of the teacher or the employee in general (Korunka et al., 2009; Schaufeli, 2015; Upadyaya et al., 2016). Our analysis showed that the core feature of burnout is attributed to the “Emotional Exhaustion” while in the case of work engagement the main focus was on the parameter of “Dedication”. So, the results of this research also testify that teachers who are experiencing burnout find it difficult to commit to their duties and they are unwilling to face the challenges of their profession. As it is noted (Schaufeli et al., 2006), work engagement may be conceived as opposite of Burnout, while “Vigor” and “Dedication” can be conceived as the opposite poles of “Emotional Exhaustion” and “Depersonalization” (González-Romá et al., 2006), which is in accordance with other similar investigations (Høigaard et al., 2012). On the other hand, the dimension of “Personal Accomplishments” has a strong positive correlation with all work engagement dimensions, which is in line with relevant investigations (Khalid & Azad, 2019; Usán Supervía & Salavera Bordás, 2020), pointing out that low commitment levels lead to reduced personal accomplishments. This leads to the assumption that lowering the levels of burnout is affecting in positive way the levels of work engagement and, therefore, could assist in developing an indirect way of keeping teachers engaged to their job and meeting the demands of their multiple roles (Saiiari et al., 2011). Although work engagement cannot be accounted as the direct opposite of burnout, still there seems to be an intense correlation between the two concepts (González-Romá, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Lloret, 2006; Schaufeli et al., 2002). Consequently, it is considered wise to consider the mediating role of burnout in the case of an employee’s engagement to his job.

As far as the mediation of work engagement and job satisfaction is concerned, there is an obvious positive correlation of the two items (β = 0.74), in similarity to previous investigations (Høigaard et al., 2012; Klassen & Chiu, 2010; Park & Johnson, 2019; Viel-Ruma et al., 2010; Yalabik et al., 2017), and thus confirming the second hypothesis. The sub dimensions of “Vigor” and “Dedication” are mainly related to increased levels of “Intrinsic” Job Satisfaction, showing that the level of mental resilience, the willingness to invest effort in the work, the experience of significance, enthusiasm and inspiration are all an immediate function of intrinsic job satisfaction, which pertains to job content such as variety, skill utilization, and autonomy. Finding ways to draw satisfaction on one’s job is a key feature for keeping someone engaged and involved with his job. If this is not the case, then the employee is lapsed into a state of cynical and mechanical behavior and is disconnected from his work role (Albrecht et al., 2015). This is why it is important to foster ways that enforce the sense of satisfaction, aiming to the cultivation of involvement and engagement to the teaching profession.

The negative relationship between job satisfaction and burnout was the third hypothesis, which is also verified (β = −0.47) and consistent with the findings of several other investigations (Chenevey et al., 2008; Goswami, 2013; Khalid & Azad, 2019; Tsigilis et al., 2006). This negative correlation implies that the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization of an employee cannot coincide with notions such as personal growth, sense of achievement or motivation but instead are intensified, if extrinsic factors such as salary, status or work load do not fulfill his expectations (Atmaca, Rızaoğlu, Türkdoğan, & Yaylı, 2020; Smetackova et al., 2019). This is in coherence with previous studies in Greece, showing that the increased level of burnout and decreased level of job satisfaction resulted in direct difficulty of maintaining focus and engagement to the teaching proficiency, while, on the other hand, lower levels of burnout and higher levels of job satisfaction helped teachers to stay engaged to their job and led to higher levels of self-efficacy (Antoniou et al., 2017; Vousiopoulos et al., 2019).

7 Limitations

It should be taken into consideration that there are some limitations to the present study. The amount of the responses was enough for a preliminary estimation of the validity of the hypotheses of this research but the size of the sample is not representative of all the employed teacher workforce in Greece. There should also be a comparison and cross reference with other demographic features such as age, work status or years of service. This will probably be the subject of a future investigation.

8 Conclusions

The results of the present study have some interesting implications that contribute to the field in various ways. The findings ascertained that teachers do experience symptoms of burnout, despite the fact that they feel engaged and inspired by their job and their role in the educational system. Results confirmed the inverse correlation of Burnout in contrast to Work Engagement and Job Satisfaction, as it is generally accepted. Taking for granted, the verification of the three hypotheses, the results lead to the conclusion that teachers are required to draw on satisfaction from their profession, while in the same time it is crucial to reduce the factors of professional burnout, so as to remain engaged to their role. Work Engagement seems to mainly rely on the reduction of the emotional exhaustion that teachers experience through the years of service and the fostering of ways of remaining satisfied by their occupation and the effort they invest in it. This gets more important since previous studies indicate that teachers do not receive the adequate support from official institutions during COVID – 19 crisis (Tzivinikou, Charitaki, & Kagkara, 2020).

9 Implications for Theory, Methodology and Pedagogical Practice

In this research, we provided sufficient evidence regarding the direct effect of burnout, job satisfaction and teachers’ individual characteristics to their work engagement in the case of Greek teachers. Several researchers suggest that improvements in job satisfaction can eliminate the risk of burnout and promote teachers’ work-engagement.

Special education teachers in Greece cope with a numerus of social, emotional, physical, and even financial burdens. Consequently, educational policy should turn to the satisfaction of the above basic psychological needs. Moreover, professional development opportunities should be given to teachers. More funding should be spent for teachers’ mobility in other countries. Different successful experiences could be adapted within the Greek cultural and economic complexity. Finally, educational campaigns which promote inclusion could enhance social support. This social support is of major importance for the satisfaction of teachers’ basic psychological needs, in order to promote job satisfaction and work engagement and to eliminate burnout. No educational system could be successfully reformed without taking into serious consideration the teachers’ basic psychological needs.