Latent analysis of the relationship between burnout experienced by Chinese preschool teachers and their professional engagement and career development aspirations

There are limited studies involving the relationship between preschool teachers’ job burnout and their professional engagement and career development aspirations. This study classified latent profiles according to job burnout indices for Chinese preschool teachers and examined the characteristics of each profile and how they affect professional engagement and career development aspirations. A cluster sample of 1000 preschool teachers (54 males and 946 females; average age = 30.93, SD = 9.91) was recruited to complete questionnaires regarding job burnout, professional engagement and career development aspirations. Results indicated that preschool teachers’ job burnout can be divided into four latent classes: 1) low burnout (9%); 2) exogenous burnout (42%); 3) endogenous burnout (44%) and 4) high burnout (5%). The demographic variables such as gender, marital status, working years, preschool location and job category have a significant impact on the potential categories of preschool teachers’ job burnout. Furthermore, the four categories of job burnout show significant differences in the level of professional engagement and career development aspirations and its dimensions, except the leadership aspiration dimension.