Preventing Teacher Burnout

By. Teresa Marchant

We made it to winter break- a major milestone for this school year! As educators and students, this time of year is exciting. However, for many educators this year has been incredibly stressful on them and they are wondering if they can make it through the rest of the school year.

I recently received a phone call from a colleague who lamented over the stresses of teaching. They were considering leaving the profession and wondered what consequences this would have on them.

After explaining the impact of them leaving a position mid-year, I quickly turned this conversation with my colleague into a conversation about how to prevent burn out rather than leaving mid-year. However, please be aware there are state and district implications. Anything from a derogatory mark on your teacher’s license to paying a penalty due to breaking your contract is pretty common. I also emphasized that their decision is especially difficult in the school district where many jobs go unfilled. Many people are counting on them to fulfill their role. Otherwise, their duties may be dumped on other colleagues. We are all emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. This is why many have suggested that self-care is vital to maintaining your emotional well being this year. So now I am passing this advice on to you.

What can you do now to prevent burnout?

1. Use your paid leave
2. Work smarter not harder by looking for resources that are done
3. Be a team player; This will lighten your load
4. Consider ways to increase happiness outside of work
5. Build relationships with students

There have been countless articles on why this year is more challenging than 2020. Unruly students, disgruntled parents, district mandates, and unforeseen absences are just a few factors that have caused extra stress. For these very reasons we need to work together! If you see someone who is struggling to make the decision to stay the remainder of the year, help them re-focus and point them in the direction of this blog and other resources to help prevent burn-out!