Higher vocational college students’ learning burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study in China

International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) Vol. 12, No. 2, June 2023, pp. 684~691 ISSN: 2252-8822, DOI: 10.11591/ijere.v12i2.24057  684 Higher vocational college students’ learning burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study in China Shenlong Tang, Siti Zuraidah Md Osman School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: This study examines students’ levels of learning burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning burnout levels were also investigated about students’ gender, hometown, family member structure, and field of major. The study employs a random sampling survey method, with 1,098 students from a public higher vocational college in Shandong Province, China. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 26. The results found that 71.5% of students are at a moderate burnout level, 27.0% are at a low level, and only 1.5% are at a high level, and there was no high level of learning burnout on a single item during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data showed that the levels of learning burnout of male students, students who live in town, non-only child students, and students majoring in science and engineering were higher than the other group of students. There was a statistically significant difference in the level of student learning burnout by gender, but not in the variables of hometown, family structure, or field of major. Although studies show that students’ learning burnout level is not affected by COVID-19, students generally have learning burnout. Therefore, three strategies were also put forward to reduce students' learning burnout from school. Received Mar 6, 2022 Revised Dec 7, 2022 Accepted Jan 9, 2023 Keywords: Chinese students COVID-19 pandemic Learning burnout Strategy Vocational colleges This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Siti Zuraidah Md Osman School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 USM Penang, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Email: 1. INTRODUCTION Burnout was defined for the first time in the 1970s. Burnout refers to the comprehensive psychological symptoms caused by long-term pressure and stress at work, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment [1]. Scholars have paid close attention to burnout research since that time [2]–[10]. These burnouts can cause workers to experience psychological and physical fatigue, thereby reducing work efficiency, affecting the quality of work, and adversely affecting the people around them. Maslach et al. [11], [12] developed the Maslach burnout inventory (MBI), which was widely used to evaluate the burnout level of workers. According to different scenarios and measurement objects, MBI has developed three different versions, namely: i) MBI human service survey (MBI-HSS) suitable for workers in the service industry; ii) MBI educator survey (MBI-ES) suitable for school workers; and iii) MBI general survey (MBI-GS) suitable for workers in other industries. Learning burnout, which is derived from job burnout, is defined as a student's exhaustion of energy due to a long-term study load, loss of interest in learning activities, indifference and emotional alienation towards classmates, and a negative attitude towards learning due to poor performance [13]–[16]. Some researchers regard school studies as a similar working environment [17], [18]. According to Koutsimani, Montgomery, and Georganta [19], students may suffer from learning burnout, showing various symptoms of Journal homepage: http://ijere.iaescore.com Int J Eval & Res Educ  ISSN: 2252-8822 685 burnout, such as feeling exhausted, indifferent to learning, and thus unable to activate the feeling of effectiveness. When students have no interest in education or lack motivation to learn due to learning pressure, academic burden, and psychological factors, they will suffer from learning burnout [20], [21]. Many studies have shown that college students have different levels of learning burnout [22]–[25]. and learning burnout will lead to a series of adverse consequences, such as anxiety and depression [26], [27], and harmful behaviors such as skipping classes, indulging in games and dropping out of school [28], [29]. The Chinese Government emphasizes the development of higher vocational education, and the number of higher vocational students is increasing [30]. Students learning burnout directly affects the teaching quality of higher vocational colleges and has a long-term negative impact on China's development plan. Investigating the students' learning burnout will help teachers master students' status and adjust education and teaching plans in time, which has crucial practical guidance significance for improving education and teaching quality. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic impacts students' mental health and their study attention [31]. However, little is known about Whether COVID-19 pandemic may have affected students' levels of learning burnout. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the learning burnout level of students in higher vocational colleges in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following are the research questions: i) What is the level of higher vocational college students' learning burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic?; ii) Is there a significant difference in higher vocational college students' learning burnout according to demographic variables such as gender, hometown, family member structure, and field of major?; and iii) What are the methods to reduce students' learning burnout? 2. RESEARCH DESIGN This research analyzed learning burnout among higher vocational college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It determined whether there was a significant difference in learning burnout according to students' gender, hometown, family member structure, and field of major. A quantitative descriptive research design was adopted since this research aims to use the collected quantitative data to describe students' level of learning burnout. 2.1. Sample/participants In this current study, participants were students from Shandong vocational college of science and technology in 2021–2022. This study adopted the method of random sampling, and the students volunteered to participate in the survey. Table 1 shows the distribution of the sample group. Table 1. Summary of respondent’s demographic characteristics Variables Gender Hometown Major Family structure Characteristics Male Female Town City Humanities and Social Sciences Science and Engineering Only child Non-only child N 388 710 923 175 406 692 222 876 % 35.3 64.7 84.1 15.9 37.0 63.0 20.2 79.8 2.2. Instrument The instrument used in this study was the undergraduate learning burnout scale (ULBS). The scale’s Cronbach’s coefficient is 0.834, with split-half reliability of 0.836, meeting the requirements of psychometrics. The scale consists of 20 questions scored by Likert’ (...truncated)