Радна клима, базичне психолошке потребе и изгарање наставника основних школа и факултета

According to recent studies, the teaching profession is stressful because of the complexity of professional roles and great social responsibility. Bad interpersonal relationships and a non-stimulating work environment are also the factors that increase professional stress. A long-term exposure to stress may lead to the burnout syndrome, which is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decrease in work efficiency. This research is aimed at studying the relationships between work climate, basic psychological needs, and teachers’ burnout. The sample includes elementary school teachers (105) and university professors (95) in order to examine if there are any differences in the relations of the aforementioned variables depending on the level of education. One of the goals of the research was also to verify whether the basic psychological needs have a mediating effect on the relationship between the work climate and the burnout of teachers. According to the Self-Determination Theory, the conceptual framework of this study, every human being has three inherent needs – autonomy, competence, and relatedness. According to the research problem, the Work Climate Questionnaire (WCQ), the Basic Need Satisfaction Scale at Work (BNSSW), and The Teacher Burnout Scale (TBS) were used. The results showed that teachers estimated their work climate as satisfactory, their basic psychological needs as moderately satisfied, and their burnout as low. Work climate was a positive predictor of the need for autonomy and competence and a negative predictor of the teachers’ burnout. Autonomy was the only mediating variable, i.e. the variable that mediates in the relationship between work climate and burnout in both elementary school teachers and university professors. The findings could be partly explained from the perspective of the Self-Determination Theory, and they contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between the psychological needs, work context, and subjective well-being of the education sector employees.