Teacher burnout is real
It’s becoming a phrase we hear again and again: “teacher burnout”. And that’s a good thing - not because it is happening; teachers have been struggling with workload and expectations for a very long time! Hearing “teacher burnout” more and more is a good thing because it means we are finally talking about it!
School leaders and educational decision makers now understand that the expectations placed upon teachers, by schools, by legislation, by parents, by inspections, by students and, most of all, by themselves, is causing more and more educators to turn away from the classroom. We need to act. We need to show teachers we understand their struggle. We need to support them and recognise and celebrate their value.
How? There are many ways. Providing better solutions when teachers are absent is no doubt one of the keys. Again and again, teachers are expected to cover for one another. To pick up the slack when someone is sick. To take on more workload to cover long term absences. To disrupt their daily routines at the last minute because there’s no-one else to cover a class for a missing colleague.
As school leaders we are often stuck with no other option. We pick up substitutions ourselves to try to avoid burdening our already overworked team. We show gratitude and empathy for the extra we ask of teachers and we keep telling them we wish there were some other option.
So what can we do to help?
Question our expectations - are we asking too much?
Review our protocols - is everything we ask for really necessary?
Streamline our processes - can we be more efficient?
Think outside the box! It’s clichéd but necessary - the obvious solution might not be the best solution.
Turn to new tools and new technologies and train teams properly in how to make them useful, not scary and burdensome.
Listen to teachers. They will tell you what their frustrations are and often they’ll have solutions we hadn’t thought about - but only if they truly believe we will listen and act.
Be prepared to change. Do things differently. If it isn’t working, we need to fix it. Look for better solutions.
