Burnout is becoming increasingly important in teacher research, as the teaching profession has been identified as highly stressful compared to other professional groups (cf. Abele & Candova, 2007). Emotional exhaustion can be seen as a major component of burnout (e. g. Cropanzano, Rupp, & Byrne, 2003). It represents the feeling of being emotionally sapped, fatigued and leached because of the job (Griffin, Hogan, Lambert, Tucker-Gail, & Baker, 2009). Especially for beginning teachers, the stress level is very high because teachers’ tasks are new to them. Besides the confrontation with complex school and teaching practices this initial phase is also characterized by growing personal responsibility, high expectations, and the process of finding one’s identity as a teacher. The international state of research indicates a high level of exhaustion very early on, during initial teaching experience, internships and the first years of teaching (Fives, Hammana, & Olivarez, 2007). Even so, the findings of Fimian and Blanton (1987) show that preservice and first year teachers have the same problems with a view to burnout as experienced teachers. Thus, the question arises whether job requirements, contextual conditions or individual attributes within the phase of first interactions in teaching practice increase or decrease exhaustion among young teachers.

Job requirements that could explain variations in teachers’ stress level include too many pupils in one class, the workload for preparing lessons, the level of social or subject-specific support, and many more (e. g. Kyriacou, 2001). Further, personal attitudes and resources play a significant role in the perceived stress. According with international state of research the results of Dicke et al. (2015) for German beginning teachers show: higher self-efficacy comes along with lower stress and burnout levels. Furthermore, international research indicates that job satisfaction – an affective estimate of the extent to which current success as a teacher is in accordance with one’s expectations and wants – is also associated with a lower stress and burnout level (cf. Griffin et al., 2009). The opposite holds true for job involvement, a motivational personal characteristic that represents the rank and importance of the job for the individual, and that is linked to higher exhaustion levels, especially when the expected income is not achieved (cf. Griffin et al., 2009).

International research has hardly taken into account these job-related requirements, individual characteristics and resources as potential moderating and mediating variables related to emotional exhaustion in preservice and beginning teachers. Three variable groups are considered relevant in terms of influencing burnout and exhaustion: 1) job-related requirements and conditions such as social support, 2) background variables such as gender, and 3) personal resources such as self-efficacy (see also Byrne 1999). For this presentation practical teaching experience during preservice internships and the first teaching years as a stress factor is assumed. The research aim is to examine whether the observations from current research can be replicated in beginning teachers with all predictors included.

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