By: Carlye
What is burnout?
Have
your heard of it? Would you believe that Merriam-Webster’s online definition of
the word, lists these as examples:
1. Teaching can be very stressful,
and many teachers eventually suffer burnout.
2. the burnout rate
among teachers
As
teachers, we are constantly fighting the “inevitable burnout” that everyone has
grown to expect. To answer
the question – burnout is something that everyone should be talking about.
Teachers are the people we as a nation are placing our trust and faith in. If
these people cannot maintain the pride they felt for themselves, their students
and their profession throughout their years of teaching, then whom will we rely
on to care for and teach our nation’s children.
So
really, what is burnout and where is it coming from? Several
studies have identified stress as among the direct causes of job burnout among
teachers (Yu, et. al.,
2015). Why is it happening to some of
our best teachers? Why are these wonderful people who were once inspired and
determined to make a difference in the world not able to last five years in
their chosen profession? According to a podcast
from Dr. Joshua Sparrow of
Harvard, a teacher might be feeling burnout when they feel emotional withdrawal
from the people they encounter, including their students and their coworkers. As
a good coworker, you want to be looking out for one another and be able to
notice signs that one of your colleagues may be heading towards burnout. It can
be hard to recognize in yourself, so teachers should take on the responsibility
of being emotionally aware of their coworkers.
Not only should teachers be
looking out for each other, administrators should be looking out for this in
their schools as well. Being proactive about the dynamic of your school and the
positivity level of your employees is essential to the success of your teachers
and your students. While burnout is a very personal thing, it affects many
people outside of the teacher experiencing it. Children are very perceptive, if
they can sense that you do not have the passion to be with them and help them
succeed, they know. They know when you
are in a bad mood, or when the teacher across the hall does not want to be
there, or when you don’t feel like listening to their stories anymore, they know. Parents are aware of this as
well, they can see when the teacher of their child does not show pride in their
student’s work or accomplishments, and they can tell when their child does not
feel the love and appreciation as well.
As this is becoming a more prominent
problem more and more research is being done, and more and more people are
searching for answers. The National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) suggests that aside from taking care of yourself and eating
properly and exercising, you can also get inspired by holding on to any
thank-you notes you receive from parents, children or coworkers. Give and
receive support from other coworkers, be each other’s support system.
We need to acknowledge that
burnout is real; it could happen to any of us if we let it. Teachers,
administrators, and parents – it’s real and it’s our job to counteract it. To
all you teachers out there who feel the pressure and the stress of the
profession – what do you do to fight the burnout?
References
"Burnout." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
Yu, X., Wang,
P., Zhai, X., Dai, H., & Yang, Q. (2015). The Effect of Work Stress on Job
Burnout Among Teachers: The mediaiting role of self-efficacy. Social Indicators Research, 122(3),
701-708. Doi: 10.1007/s11205-014-0716-5
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