Abstract

Scientific research and practical experience in teaching children with disabilities has shown that the preservation of mental health of educational workers is a prerequisite for the preservation of the wellbeing of children and young people. It is therefore important to systematically study the correlates of professional burnout of educators, such as personality traits and competencies, and the possibilities of its prediction, which was the aim of this study. Three questionnaires were applied on a sample of 203 educators from the area of Istria, Rijeka and Zagreb: the Big Five Inventory, the Scale of Self-Estimated Competencies for Teaching Children with Disabilities and the Professional Burnout Questionnaire. Low levels of all dimensions of professional burnout, medium levels of self-assessed competencies for teaching children with disabilities in regular settings and high levels of all personality traits (apart from neuroticism) have been established. Correlation analyses demonstrated significant correlations between reduced self-estimated competencies for teaching children with disabilities in regular settings and increased neuroticism and professional burden and significantly reduced agreeableness. All the dimensions of increased professional burnout showed significant association with high neuroticism and significantly reduced agreeableness, while increased extraversion is significantly associated with reduced professional burden. A reduced level of self-estimated competence for teaching children with disabilities and high neuroticism showed to be significant predictors of all dimensions of professional burnout, while agreeableness was shown to be a significant predictor for professional unfulfillment. The results were discussed in the light of existing studies and the implications for improving the practice of early childhood educators who are teaching children with disabilities.