Abstract
Teacher burnout is a problem that impacts the school community. Students are adversely impacted when teachers experience burnout (Hastings & Bham, 2003). Teachers experiencing burnout have less well-being and less access to psychological capital (PsyCap). Therefore, evidence-informed solutions are needed to address teacher burnout in a meaningful and cogent way (Gray et al., 2017). To study this condition, I will look at a high school as a bounded system, the levels of PsyCap of educators within the school, and the teacher-student relationship as focal points in which the problem of burnout might have the most acute impact. The teacher-student relationship can be considered through the lens of leader-member exchange (LMX). LMX is a framework that attempts to explain the relationship between a leader and a follower as a means of encouraging outcomes like organizational citizenship behavior and increased performance (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). Using LMX to frame an approach to teacher-student relationships could help leadership practitioners better understand how developing the PsyCap of teachers could lead to many positive outcomes, including a reduction in burnout among teachers. My research showed a moderate to high level of burnout among the teachers, but also a relatively high amount of PsyCap, as well. Ways to address these feelings among teachers should involve honest dialogue and acknowledgement of the overwhelming expectations placed on teachers. Teachers need to engage in authentic self-care and foster honest conversations that allow for the re-terming of burnout to demoralization and exploitation as a way to make systemic changes. Keywords: Teacher burnout, Psychological Capital (PsyCap), leader-member exchange (LMX), Secondary schools, Authentic self-care