Exploring Student Burnout Among Freshman of Higher Vocational Colleges in China

Abstract

Student burnout has become a common phenomenon of higher vocational students, and even among the freshmen. In order to make better countermeasures, we need to reveal the reasons. The purpose of this study is to explore the causes of freshman’s burnout in a general higher vocational college. This study adopts the qualitative research method provided by the case study paradigm, and collects data from 4 interviewees through in-depth interviews, researchers' observations and literature analysis. The empirical results of the study show that the causes of the freshman’s burnout comes from many aspects, such as the internal causes: failure of time management, cell phones addition, lack of learning motivation, low self-efficiency and emotional disturbance, and external reasons: curriculum and examination setting, as well as the influence of teachers and peers. To sum up, the data show that freshman's burnout needs the attention of educators and students themselves, and effective intervention measures should be strengthened to achieve better educational effects.