How To Prevent Teacher Burnout

Are you a teacher feeling exhausted and completely drained by the time Friday approaches?

Do your weekends look like an endless cycle of paperwork and dreading Monday?

If both answers are yes, it might be time to develop a strategic plan, to avoid teacher burnout.

What is burnout, you ask?

Defined by ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases), burnout is:

“Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

There are three main factors to burnout:

Those outside of the profession may believe teachers and teaching assistants have quite the luck in terms of hours.

With six weeks of school holidays and additional inset days, you can see why it is easy to fall into that trap.

However, teachers often work far past their contracted hours and into their ‘free’ time.

According to a survey conducted by SuperProf, secondary school headteachers worked the most amount of hours – cramming in 63.5 hours of work a week.

Adding to this, teachers fell at an average of 12 hours and 40 minutes of work per day. Which is quite different from the ‘cozy hours’ stigma.

It’s easier said than done but there are cautionary steps you can implement to prevent extreme burnout.

If you live to work, it will a) show and b) take over every aspect of your life.

You can check in on yourself in a variety of ways, which are proven to be highly effective.

We’re here to make things easier for you so here are our top ways of checking in with yourself:

Listen to your intuition: Intuition works like your subconscious, helping you to understand what’s going on internally.
Pay close attention to your emotions: As soon as you feel yourself becoming anxious or stressed, take note of it. Try to understand why this feeling has risen and what it means.
Begin journalling: Writing down your feelings is a great way of releasing your feelings and understanding how you feel. Journalling also helps you keep track of your goals and progress.
Mindful meditation: Practicing being in the present helps eradicate stress and clear your mind.
Prioritise time to reflect: Even if it’s just a few minutes, that’s better than nothing. Review your goals and see what you’re struggling with.
Have a safe space with a friend: Make sure you have a friend that you can speak to is a must. Having an outside perspective can be really beneficial, especially when trying to overcome an issue.
Always ensure you take breaks: Whether it be a day, weekend, or booking a holiday – you need the time to relax. This will help you feel refreshed when returning back to work.