Burnout. The dreaded word that carries down the halls and in the staff room. The word that teachers throw around aimlessly after a long week, and later realize there may be some truth to it all.

What is it?

Burnout is the feeling of being totally depleted, mentally, physically and emotionally, from unmanaged stress. This state of being is actually pretty common in educators, mainly because of the lack of ressources available.

Why do I have it?

The ultimate reason for burnout is the lack of ressources in education. You will see that every issue listed below could theoretically be solved by allocating more ressources to education as a whole. Without further ado, here is the list:

1. Teacher pay isn’t that great, at least not when you’re starting out, so a lot of new teachers need to work a part-time job to get by. Because of this, they don’t have enough time to decompress from school. They are trying to adapt to a whole new environment while stressing about covering bills. If the government provided more money to schools to pay their teachers and other professionals a liveable wage, they wouldn’t be stuck working on the side, and might have the funds to afford calming activities.

2. Teachers are often over-capacity in their classrooms. Capacity is a term used on the administrative side, where teachers have a limit on how many students they are contractually allowed to have in their classroom before they receive a “bonus” pay. This “bonus” pay is really nothing in comparison to the amount of extra work that they have to do to compensate for these extra students, but it’s something I guess? However, if the government gave schools enough money to hire 2 or 3 more teachers, this would allow them to cut class sizes, which would in turn, cut teacher workload.

3. Lack of administrative support is a huge reason as to why teachers leave the field. This one might be more difficult to justify with an increase in government funding, but it’s definitely doable. A lot of the administrative support that is needed can’t be provided because the administration is worried about budget cuts. Since they are at risk of losing funding for the following year which results in them doing whatever the school board requires them to do in order to secure their future funding. They’re also not unionized, so they are at the mercy of the school board. They don’t want to risk their job to protect a teacher.

4. Another huge reason for teacher burnout is the lack of support staff. With the rising learning disabilities and medical diagnoses, teachers have to cater to a wide variety of students who are quite frankly, incredibly difficult to handle. Without additional help in the classroom, it’s really hard to find time to teach and support each student.

How to cure it?

Now that we’ve gone through the main reasons for teacher burnout, let’s go over what we can do to avoid it, and cure it.

The main thing that should be done before anything is keep boundaries with EVERYONE. At home and at school, you need to know your limits and respect your limits so that others know to respect them as well. If your teaching partner asks you to cover for them, only do it if you can! Don’t do it every time just to be nice. If a parent asks you for special treatment for their child, only do it if you have the time and energy. When you can’t, they need to respect that. If your principal asks you to join a meeting during your spare, only do it if everything else you had planned to complete is completed. The work that you have is more important than any meeting, so if you are unable, you explain politely and ask to reschedule. If you don’t set boundaries and respect them, you will be walked on like there’s no tomorrow. The goal isn’t to always be the one who says no, but to protect yourself so you aren’t suffering in the future with an insurmountable workload.

Let’s say you’re at the point where you need to take a break because the behaviours, the workload, the lack of support are all getting to you. If you are in that position, TAKE. THE. BREAK. You cannot continue if you are suffering. You cannot support your students if you are incapable of supporting yourself. Call you doctor, see what they can do to help. Most doctors have already treated a teacher for burnout and can clearly explain the steps. You can also call your union and inquire about the medical leave process. When your doctor decides that a leave of work is necessary, you need to take that time to evaluate your life and how you can improve it. Are you eating 3 balanced meals a day? Are you exercising and getting fresh air every day? You’d be surprise at how quickly teaching depletes your ressources, and how unhealthy your life can become. Start with the basics and talk to a therapist. They’ll give you all the ressources that could be helpful in your recovery.

If you’re going through this feeling, I truly understand you. I’m actually going through it right now, and it is very difficult. It makes you question your career path in its entirety. Some people think it’s just paid time off, but it’s much more than that. You’re trying to remove yourself from a toxic environment while still caring for the people in it – that’s not easy. I know you’ll get through it, just like I will, and don’t ever feel like you’re alone.