What is teacher burnout and how to combat it?

Teaching can be the best job in the world: fun, inspiring and rewarding. But it can also be relentless – mentally and physically – and an exhausting environment to work in, leading to burnout.

Long gone are any days where teachers stroll into class at 8.30am and leave at 3.30pm (was that ever a thing?). We’ve all been there:

• no work–life balance
• no time
• increased workload demands
• a job list that never decreases.

There is a long list of reasons behind teacher burnout and it is no surprise that at some point during our careers, things get on top of us and we experience a burnout that significantly affects our mental health and wellbeing. The worst thing we can do is turn a blind eye to noticing burnout either in ourselves or colleagues, as re-engaging burnt-out colleagues is very difficult and it isn’t a quick fix.

Burnout is accumulative. It is a series of events that happen over time, with individuals experiencing sustained periods of stress in the workplace.

Ultimately, we all have different stress thresholds and tolerances. Different stressors affect colleagues in different ways. The best thing we can do is learn to notice the signs of burnout in our colleagues and support people to manage stressors to avoid burnout.

It is in everyone’s interest to keep teachers teaching and children learning, so looking after ourselves and others needs to be at the top of the priority list.

Three signs of burnout

1. Becoming detached

• Colleagues may become disengaged from school life and responsibilities or might struggle to find any enjoyment from the job, even on the good days. A lack of participation or contribution might be evident, with a staff member being present at a staff meeting but not actually taking it in.
• When becoming detached, teachers might feel isolated and unhappy with their job or role and avoid team events or talking positively to others. This may lead to an increase in cynicism and negative thinking about the school or job.

2. Exhaustion

• Signs of exhaustion include extreme emotional or physical tiredness and fatigue. A colleague may be irritable, frustrated or snappy with others.
• They may not be able to sleep and have insomnia, an increase in days off sick or illness and might suffer from headaches or bouts of dizziness.

3. Reduced performance

• Burnout will drastically affect teacher output and performance. You might find that colleagues are struggling with workload and have not got the most basic aspects of their teaching day planned or done.
• Teachers are also their own worst critics. Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness or apathy result in poor productivity and time overthinking tasks, feeling increasingly anxious about being at work or dreading going into the classroom.

Eight ways to address burnout

1. Build balance
Ensure that you build a work–life balance into your life and encourage others to do the same. You could set a time that you are leaving after school. Make sure you stick to it and go. The jobs will still be there in the morning.

Commit to times for switching off. Nominate periods (weeknights, weekends or holidays) where you work and when you don’t. After a certain time, do not check emails or respond to requests. It may be hard at first, but a simple trick is deleting your email account from your phone and not having your work email notifications or account ‘on tap’.

During work time, create productive lists where you feel you have control to get things done quickly. Work with colleagues to get things done and make the most of the time you have after school so that you can switch off when you leave, for example, joint planning, resource prepping, photocopying or tidying.

Plan a balance of lessons where you have some marking to do (try to get marking done in the lessons where it is most effective anyway!) and plan some active lessons or where the outcome is shared in different ways, for example, an active maths lesson. Make sure you do not leave school taking 30 books x 5 lessons of marking to do!

2. Look after your physical and mental wellbeing
Take care of yourself physically and mentally. Engage in something outside of teaching that you enjoy. For example, you could find a new hobby, read a book to relax your mind before bed or do some exercise. Spend time with family and friends or plan your next holiday or away trip!

Taking time to find the positives, even just identifying one positive thing from your day, may help reframe and visualise situations that you have handled well or refocus your mind on the positive things you have achieved.

Everyone has a different outlook on what they find relaxing or want to do to let off steam to have good wellbeing and a healthy work–life balance.

3. Talk
Check in regularly with yourself and your colleagues. Speak to someone if you are finding things difficult. Open up to trusted friends, family or a counsellor or use a helpline.

4. Be aware
Develop an awareness of your thresholds and when you are getting stressed. Often, burnt-out individuals struggle to recognise it and carry on. Because of the relentless nature of schools, this is easy to do. Learn to recognise the signs in yourself and others, and instead of ‘powering on through', take time for yourself. You could practise yoga, meditation or journalling. Be aware of the triggers that make you feel stressed and how you can avoid or combat them.

Plan for busy periods in the school year and what is coming up, then you can support yourself or others to complete tasks, be prepared and prioritise.

5. Take charge
Take a day or two to recoup when you need it and switch off completely.
If you feel exhausted, drained or ill, for example, make sure you take the day off sick. When we are ill, our bodies are telling us we need to heal and recover, listen and make sure you take some time.

Relax when you need to. Most weekends are packed with activities – meeting people, walks, meals and children's events. You can also have too much of a good thing when you are already feeling tired. Once a month, decide to have no plans for the weekend. Use the time to chill out, rest and have a break.

6. Say no
We all have our limits. Teachers are ‘yes’ people. A lot of the time, we put an increasing amount of pressure on ourselves to be the best, provide great lessons and go the extra mile to make learning experiences memorable and ‘stick.’

If there are deadlines you can’t meet, have a professional conversation and explain the limitations of your getting things done and the reasons why. Leaders should understand and take on board what you say.

Saying no can be difficult at first, but sometimes we have to make sure we help ourselves and look after our own mental health and wellbeing.

7. Think about the impact
With endless job lists, it is easy to get bogged down with little tasks or activities. Before you take on something new or sit down to complete a task, think about the impact that it will have on your students and whether it is necessary. Prioritising the most important things will positively impact your day and possibly reduce your workload.

If you are asked to do something beyond your role or responsibility, think about it and speak professionally about the impact that task will have on students and how much time it will take. Consider alternatives, if necessary, ways to reduce the workload and achieve the same outcome or say no!

8. Get support
If you are struggling, speak to a professional such as a counsellor, who will help you find solutions and discuss your feelings. Expressing and discussing feelings will help you address difficult situations with colleagues or alleviate anxiety about your workload.

Check out these useful resources

• Education Support Helpline – 08000 562 561
• NHS Mental Health Services

About the author

Emma Symonds is an Assistant Headteacher and a Specialist Leader of Education at Lime Tree Primary Academy, Manchester.