Avoiding Burn-out in Community College Technical Educators - Term Paper Example

To avoid developing burnout and to prevent stress, various effective techniques and strategies will be examined. These include: increasing the academic scholarship of community college educators to raise their knowledge background for enhanced student outcomes, applying the wellness approach to avoiding faculty burnout, workshops for reducing burnout, the provision of an environment of social support by community colleges, administrators’ promotion of faculty vitality,  implementation of effective strategies to reduce workplace stress and consequent burnout, and the faculty eliminating burnout by improving their relationship with work.
Community colleges are public-funded institutions providing two-year courses in higher education, mainly for the local community (Cohen, & Brawer, 2009). Community colleges generally offer certificates, diplomas, and/or Associate degrees for various courses. A wide range of teaching personnel is employed by community colleges. The faculty may include “full-time teaching instructors, part-time or adjunct instructors, librarians, staff in student personnel services” (Miller, Finley, & Vancko, 2000, p.22). Occasionally, college administrators teach a course. Because of excessive workloads, diverse and academically underprepared students, greater pressure for meeting performance expectations, increased accountability, and other challenges, community college technical educators commonly experience burnout.
Burnout is a depressive disorder that develops gradually over a period of time. It arises from an individual’s perceptions of unmet needs, unfulfilled expectations, or threatening conditions. Besides progressive disillusionment as well as the decline in self-esteem, the individual’s perception of being trapped in the situation and inability to cope with their feelings of hopelessness lead to the condition (Gold, & Roth, 1993).
Increasing numbers of students opt to complete their first two years of post-secondary education at community colleges. At present, there are more than eleven hundred community colleges in the United States enrolling approximately 6.6 million students, and employing around three hundred and thirty thousand full-time faculty. “Community college faculty in the United States constitutes a major labor force and represents one-third of all postsecondary faculty” (Levin, Kater, & Wagoner, 2006, p.3).
The two-year colleges function as stepping stones to higher education courses consisting of fewer years, which would otherwise be inaccessible for many students based on costs as well as adequate academic preparation. Additionally, community colleges help in vocational training and preparation for entry into the workforce.
Thus, greater numbers of students now aspire for college and university degrees, with the help of community colleges. The student populations at community colleges include learning disabled students, those whose native language is not English, nontraditional attendance and matriculation patterns, part-time and returning students, and students upgrading technical or vocational skills (Hamilton, 2002).
The functions of faculty in community colleges include “instruction, research, public service, and institutional governance” (McCallum, 2008, p.9). Of these functions, instruction covers more than 50% of faculty time, making it the main area of emphasis by community college faculty. It also underscores the community college’s perspective of itself as the teaching college.