How can you minimize teacher burnout?

Colleagues, 

We remain in uncertain times and teacher stress, anxiety, and burnout is at an all time high. How do we help our teachers as they struggle with burnout? 

Check out the article, Job-Related Stress Threatens the Teacher Supply and join us throughout November to discuss teacher burnout and stress. 

  • A much higher proportion of teachers reported frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general adult population.
  • Mode of instruction and health were the highest-ranked stressors for teachers.
  • One in three teachers were responsible for the care of their own children while teaching.
  • Many pandemic-era teaching conditions, such as technical problems while teaching remotely, were linked to job-related stress, depressive symptoms, and burnout.

 Let's start with dscussing your experiences...What are you seeing at your program? 

Kathy

Comments

TLDR; Teachers are at a breaking point and need mental health services through their school. What support strategies are you implementing?

Colleagues, As we continue this discussion, I want to share the 5 minute read: We Need To Be Nurtured, Too': Many Teachers Say They're Reaching A Breaking Point

Highlights from the article reflect both the breaking point and the strategies being implemented. The section that struck me the most was: 

Districts are trying to help — with yoga classes, counseling sessions and webinars on mental health. Some teachers have organized trivia nights or online happy hours where colleagues can just vent. Teachers told NPR they force themselves to take breaks, go for a bike ride or call a friend. Some have started therapy.

But most of the educators NPR spoke with say they're so exhausted that even self-care feels like one additional thing to do.

"The reality is, when you're living it, you're just trying to get to the end of the day successfully and try again tomorrow," Crumrine says.

How are YOU? What supports do you need? 

Kathy

Colleagues, 

I invite you to bookmark this webinar, Your Brain At Work. It's 56 minutes and you can watch it in pieces. 

The discussion focuses on the extreme pressure we are all facing and mounting job burnout. Human cognitive capacity must be considered a valuable resources. In this webinar, the experts discuss mapping out this capacity and they explore the neuroscience of capacity, motivation, and bias to guide leaders through strategies that increases performance while decreasing burnout. 

Resources discussed in this webinar include the following: 

What are your takeaways from this webinar? 

Kathy 

Colleagues, 

As we work through the teacher and staff burnout and stress during the Great Resignation, I'd like to shift from support strategies and individual leadership styles to discussing systems - and how systems can be realigned to improve the overall environment. 

I invite you to review Productivity is About Your Systems, Not Your People and I look forward to your feedback. 


Kathy Tracey 

 

TLDR; People don't work in isolation, but in complex environments requiring focus on the system and not the individual. The following ideas were explored in depth: 

  • Making work (and downtime) visible.
  • Defining the 'bat signal' to indicate a true priority. 
  • Align responsibility with authority. 

 

 

 

 

As we further explore teacher stress and burnout, I'd like to highlight an article from Edtopia, Curbing Teacher Burnout During the Pandemic. 

The strategies in the article focus on wellness and collaboration. 

  • How do these strategies align with the information that's been shared in this thread? 
  • Is it a staff members' responsibility to manage wellness or is it an environment we need to create? 
  • And finally, how do we address management stress and burnout? 

I'm looking forward to your comments. 

Kathy