Academic Burnout and Classroom Assessment Environment:The Case of University’s Accounting Students in Kwara State, Nigeria

This study was set out to identify strategies to be adopted in achieving reduced feelings of academic burnout by university’s accounting students via perceived classroom assessment environment. Being a causal-comparative study, the dependent variable-student burnout and the independent variableclassroom assessment environment were measured using Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) and Classroom Assessment Environment Scale (CAES) respectively. A sample of 202 accounting students in Al-Hikmah University out of four universities with full-fledged accounting course in Kwara State was surveyed. Cluster analysis, used to identify the homogeneous groups of classroom assessment environment’s perceptions, resulted in the emergence of three clusters of a mix of learning-based and performance-based dimensions of classroom assessment environment. Kruskal- Wallis test was conducted upon the failure of normality and homogeneity of variance assumptions. The findings showed that accounting undergraduates differ significantly in their feelings of academic burnout with regard to the clusters of their perceptions of classroom assessment environment. Specifically, it was evident that increased perceived performance-based classroom assessment environment leads to the increased level of academic burnout while the increased learning-based classroom assessment environment reduces it. Therefore, accounting educators should teach to institutionalize classroom assessment environment that is learning-oriented and influence positively three domains of educational objectives.