Teacher Exhaustion and Burnout

We can't "self-care" our way out of this.

This piece is available in full at this link, courtesy of the Center for Educator Wellness and Learning (CEWL).

I left my career as a full-time teacher two years ago, after sixteen years in the classroom.

Recently, I was invited by a former colleague to return for a day to score capstone presentations for a senior research class. We sat at a plastic folding table, watched students give 10-15 minute academic presentations on a variety of subjects, and asked the students pre-selected questions from a list. We took notes, gave feedback, and scored using printed rubrics. We did this from 9AM to 4 PM, with a 20-minute break for lunch.

On paper, this is a pretty standard work day and likely doesn’t sound very taxing to anyone who hasn’t been a teacher.

But when I got home that afternoon, I almost immediately collapsed into my bed and slept like a rock for two hours. This took me back to the days 16-17 years earlier when I was in my first years in the classroom. I would get home, launch myself into a couch or bed, and lose consciousness until it was dark outside.

What is so exhausting about the profession?

Wang et al, in the literature review portion of a recent psychology paper, write:

“Teacher emotional exhaustion stands as a fundamental dimension of occupational burnout within the educational landscape, characterized by a profound depletion of emotional resources due to chronic stressors associated with the teaching profession (Chang, 2009; Maslach and Leiter, 2016; Klusmann et al., 2023). This state encompasses feelings of being emotionally drained, overextended, and lacking the energy necessary to meet the profession’s emotional demands..."

According to the same study, prior research shows that, “The persistent strain stemming from diverse student needs, administrative pressures, and workload demands significantly contributes to this emotional drain (Kyriacou, 2001; Hui et al., 2022). Moreover, emotional exhaustion often corresponds to a perceived decline in effectiveness and accomplishment in the professional role. Teachers “experiencing emotional exhaustion may feel a reduced sense of achievement and efficacy in positively impacting students’ lives or contributing meaningfully to their education (Maslach et al., 2001; Rumschlag, 2017).

Or, as I explained to my principal at the end of what turned out to be my penultimate year as a teacher, the profession had left me “emotionally, physically, and spiritually tired”.

“Decision fatigue”