Educators working at all levels are in the midst of a mental health crisis. As a leader, you're in the perfect position to help. There are several ways to reduce burnout at your school while taking care of your own wellbeing too.
Everyone experiences stress. To an extent, low-level stress can prompt you to avoid harmful situations. However, when that stress is persistent and unmanageable, it can cause burnout. Burnout is essentially physical and emotional exhaustion. It's chronic stress that arises when your workload feels unmanageable.
As your body continuously floods with the stress hormone cortisol, everyday functions such as sleep and relaxation start to feel challenging. In one study, employees who displayed signs of burnout had higher than safe cortisol levels.
According to the RAND Corporation's latest State of the American Teacher survey, anxiety among educators is startlingly high. Some of the survey findings include:
With such results, it's clear that preventing burnout among teachers in your district is a necessary task. When your teachers are at risk of burnout, so are you.
Some of the common signs of burnout include:
Promoting greater teacher and staff wellbeing in schools usually requires a multi-pronged approach. As a leader, you're in the perfect position to implement change that minimizes educator burnout. By using a variety of approaches, you can reduce educator burnout and create a positive environment for teachers and students alike.
When those you manage don't have a voice or feel as though their leaders aren't taking them seriously, they're more likely to feel frustrated. According to the RAND survey, only 37% of teachers felt like administrators were proactive in monitoring for and responding to staff wellbeing concerns. As a leader, you have the chance to change that.
Make it clear to teachers that you're open to hearing about what is and isn't working for them. Doing so doesn't mean you need to take all their ideas to heart, but it gives you the information you need to effect change. More importantly, it ensures your teachers feel heard.
Remaining open to feedback from your teachers makes it easier for you to spot education staff burnout trends. While some problems may be unique to each individual, others are likely pervasive throughout the school. Work with your department heads to perform regular reviews of trending problems.
When you catch problems at the earliest opportunity, you can plan solutions before they get out of control. For example, if there's a particular group of students who require additional support and are placing a strain on your teachers, you can allocate resources rapidly instead of waiting until the situation reaches crisis pitch.
While you can't remove teachers from stressors such as standardized testing and parent-teacher conferences, you can offer resources to help them manage their mental health. Some ways you can reduce teacher burnout include:
Offering guidance to your staff is almost always a positive thing. At the same time, you must allow them to use their training and experience. Teachers receive training in classroom management, and you should allow them to take the lead. Of course, you should also be ready to step in as soon as a teacher requests help. Preventing burnout may become easier when your education staff feel as though they're in control and have a strong support system behind them too.
Although your teachers face restrictions in terms of curriculum outcomes and funding, there's still room for creative license. Providing they meet the desired outcomes and follow state regulations, allow them to teach their classes in a way that works for them. By providing them with this freedom, you don't just make their lives easier. You lighten some of your own workload too.
Complaints can contribute significantly to education staff burnout. When a parent or pupil complains about a teacher, it can feel daunting for both you and them. However, in the interest of fairness, you need to investigate complaints with a fair and open approach. During any investigations, ensure teachers are aware of supportive resources. Depending on how experienced they are, you may want to encourage them to seek further support from another member of staff. Until a complaint investigation concludes, it's important that teachers receive adequate support.
At Welbee, we offer a free teacher wellbeing toolkit that helps with stress management and boosting educator wellbeing in schools. We're also available to provide bespoke guidance, so signup for a free 30-minute demo to help you and your staff reduce burnout at school.Almost half of US K-12 teachers feel burned out at work, according to a 2022 Gallup Poll on occupational burnout, with 44% of them report feeling burned out often or always, but what can leaders do to help prevent workplace...
This guide explores how you can achieve excellence in people through the seven stages of the employee lifecycle.
Working in education and perfectionism often go together, but striving to be flawless can hurt teacher wellbeing. Check out our tips to manage your inner perfectionist.
Discover some of the key steps you can take to better protect and improve your own wellbeing in this useful guide.
Compassionate leadership is an essential component in creating the organizational culture for positive staff wellbeing. Find out more in our complete guide to compassionate leadership.
Take a look at our helpful guide containing tips, ideas, and resources for managing your finances.
Watch the video to explore the impacts that a lack of sleep can have on your physical and mental wellbeing.
Workplace relationships have an immeasurable impact on wellbeing. Learn more about repairing old relationships and building new ones today.
Discover the importance of setting boundaries for school staff, including the types pf boundaries, key principles, and how to sustain healthy workplace boundaries.
Discover how to create the foundations for excellent wellbeing in this useful guide.
Education staff are often with others all day, but loneliness still impacts teacher wellbeing. Learn more about how loneliness impacts you and what you can do to combat it.
Discover how you can use World Mental Health Day to kick-start conversation around mental health and highlight the importance of staff wellbeing.
Compassion fatigue in education can lead to poor educator wellbeing and job burnout. Learn how to recognize and combat it with this useful guide.
Read this useful guide to deepen your understanding of why boundaries for education leaders are vital and how establishing boundaries can help combat issues within schools.
Discover how you can help your staff avoid burnout in this helpful guide.
Although the terms are often interchanged poor mental health is not the same as having a mental illness. Watch this video to explore what mental illness actually is and how it differs from mental health.
It can be difficult to know how to start a conversation with a colleague or someone you manage about their mental health. Watch this video to discover 10 useful tips to help.
Watch the video to explore when a low mood may be a normal response life stressors and discover the evolutionary purpose of low moods.
Anxiety can both be a normal reaction to the stressors of day-to-day life, or a sign of a mental health illness. Watch this video to learn how to tell when anxiety is 'normal'.
What exactly is mental health and how does it differ from mental illness? Watch this video to find out.
Listening is a key skill for leading in an empathic way which supports employee wellbeing but there are many things that get in the way of listening effectively. Explore 7 of them in this video.
Recent UK-wide statistics on the wellbeing of school staff indicate the importance of feeling appreciated and supported in the workplace. Watch this video to discover why creating a culture of appreciation is important.
Watch this video to discover why sleep is so essential for positive mental and physical health.
Discover some of the most common sleep problems in this useful video.
Watch this video to explore the Interest Based Rational Approach to "principled negotiation" which encourages parties to use joint problem solving techniques, rather than positional bargaining.
Discover what burnout is and how to avoid it in this useful guide.
Saying no can be difficult! Read this useful guide to discover the importance of saying no and learn how to say no confidently and professionally.
Managing parents who are difficult or aggressive is stressful for anyone working in education. Use these tips to improve family relationships and protect teacher wellbeing.
Relaxation is crucial for positive mental health but how can it be achieved amidst immense pressure? Watch this video to hear 5 top tips.
This compassionately written guide explores the sensitive topic of suicide and suicidal feelings.
Secondary trauma has a profound impact on today's schools. Learn more about the symptoms of secondary trauma in education staff and strategies to cope with it.
Do you struggle with sleep? This guide will help you understand why sleep is important, the common causes of sleep disturbances, and how to improve your sleep quality.
Discover the powerful connection between physical activity and educator wellbeing in this useful guide.
Watch the video to explore some quick tips for cultivating and maintaining a positive mindset.
In this video we explore The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80:20 rule and how this can help you manage your workload.
Delegation is a key skill for leaders, but what limits does it have? Watch this video to explore if authority, responsibility, and accountability can be delegated.
We often about the importance of being empathetic, but what exactly is empathy, and why is it important? Watch this video to find out and discover the 5 elements of empathy identified by Daniel Goleman.
Delegation is a key skill for any leader. In this video, we explore what delegation actually means, and then explore some strategies to help you delegate tasks appropriately.
