Teacher burnout occurs when educators experience excess stress and cannot enact positive change.
Professional Development
What is Teacher Burnout?
Teacher burnout occurs when educators experience excess stress and cannot enact positive change.
This results in high turnover rates as teachers feel compelled to leave the profession. Although many young professionals are keen to enter the education sector, teacher burnout means schools often struggle to retain their staff.
Education resources
What are the warning signs of teacher burnout?
Affecting newly-qualified teachers and experienced educators, teacher burnout is responsible for many schools’ high staff turnover rate.
All industries experience turnover in terms of staffing. Still, the turnover in the education sector is above the national average, which can damage schools, staff, and the industry as a whole.
NPR Education recently reported that over half a million teachers leave the profession yearly. After undertaking extensive training and continuing development programs, what is causing these teachers to abandon the industry they are so passionate about? Various theories to account for the high rate of teacher turnover have been put forward, but the most likely explanation is a culmination of issues, such as:
- Limited funding
- Additional administrative requirements
- Socio-economic issues
- Time constraints
As their job roles continually expand and they have to undertake an ever-increasing amount of administrative tasks, teachers must also assist students with various socio-economic issues, which can place an emotional burden on educators.
In addition, ongoing teacher evaluations and the requirement to undertake regular continuing development programs add to the stresses and strains of being a teacher.
Of course, the funding issue is certainly relevant and is likely a contributing factor to the high number of teachers suffering from stress and burnout. With many teachers forced to take on a second job to supplement their income, commute long distances to work as they cannot afford to live in the same district in which they teach, and most teachers buying classroom supplies from their funds, the financial issues facing teachers should not be underestimated.
There are many reasons teachers experience burnout, and schools should put measures in place to assist teachers wherever possible.
One way to prevent teachers from burning out is to recognize the signs of chronic stress and workplace burnout.
Teacher burnout stages
People may exhibit symptoms of stress in different ways, and there is no set way that burnout occurs. However, there are common signs of teacher burnout that often occur when teachers feel overwhelmed or stuck. Looking out for the following symptoms can help teachers who may be at risk of suffering from teacher burnout:
Stage 1: Inflexibility
When teachers exhibit inflexibility or rigidity, they often ignore or reject help and advice from their colleagues. To stay afloat, professionals may insist that ‘everything is fine, but their behavior may indicate increased stress and/or self-neglect.
Stage 2: Anger and tetchiness
Teaching requires a lot of patience, and most teachers develop an inordinate amount of patience throughout their careers! If a colleague seems more irritable than usual, it may be a sign of burnout. If a teacher is snappier than usual or seems to become angry more quickly than they normally would, they may be on their way to suffering from burnout.
Unfortunately, ongoing irritability can result in the teacher feeling worse, which, in turn, fuels stressful feelings and a sense of inadequacy. Teachers may also notice their moods, emotions, and routines being affected at this stage.
Stage 3: Distrust
When teachers are in the throws of burnout, they may lack trust in everyone around them. Some teachers may appear paranoid that colleagues are out to undermine them or ‘steal’ their job. In addition to this, teachers may attempt to self-medicate when they are experiencing stage 3 of burnout.
As educators may feel depressed, alone, and isolated during this period, it’s not uncommon for people to smoke cigarettes or alcohol to self-medicate.
Stage 4: Exhaustion and leaving the profession
If teachers get to stage 4 burnout, they will likely leave the profession. Individuals experience physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion at this stage and cannot continue in their roles. In some cases, teachers may have struggled to cope with the earlier stages of burnout for months or years and finally feel they have no option but to quit teaching.
When teachers have experienced the earlier stages of burnout and feel unable to make any positive changes, this feeling of being ‘stuck’ with no way forward pushes many people to leave the profession. Without support from colleagues or management teams, teachers may feel isolated and ignored, which only strengthens the belief that no positive changes can be made.
How to reduce teacher burnout
As soon as teachers recognize burnout symptoms, they should try and increase the amount of self-care in their routine. While time constraints may make this appear difficult, the benefits of increased self-care far outweigh the potential damage caused by untreated teacher burnout.
Self-care means something different to everyone but can include:
- Creating time for hobbies
- Practicing relaxation techniques
- Leaving work at work
- Spending time with family and friends
- Committing to an exercise regime
- Focusing on personal goals
School administrators, principals, and teachers should always look out for the signs of burnout in their colleagues and offer support where possible. As well as providing the individual with the essential support they require, early intervention can help to prevent teachers from leaving the profession and reverse the trend of high staff turnover rates.
Although teacher burnout does result in people leaving the education sector, it isn’t simply a straightforward choice to retrain in another career. Teachers who have experienced burnout may suffer physical, mental, and emotional illness due to the condition.
For many teachers, it will take months or years of holistic treatment to recover from the effects of burnout. By taking a proactive approach to the issue, principals and school leadership teams can ensure their colleagues do not suffer because of their roles and that the education sector offers a safe, supportive and rewarding environment in which to work.
