Strategies to Address Teacher Burnout

Literature Review – Teacher Burnout

One of the most important issues in the education sector in the United States is teacher wellbeing. This issue has gained prominence largely because of the increasing diversity and demands across schools and classrooms. School and classroom contexts are characterized by diverse students, lower socioeconomic resources, and challenging school climates. As a result of these factors, teachers experience a series of stressors ranging from poor working conditions to student discipline problems and lack of emotional support (Ross, Romer & Horner, 2011). This implies that teachers are highly vulnerable to burnout because of the demanding nature of their jobs. Teacher burnout has been the subject of numerous studies in recent years because of its impact on teacher wellbeing, teaching practices, and student outcomes. This literature review examines the problem of teacher burnout and recommended strategies to address it.

Background Information

Teaching is essentially a highly demanding and stressful profession resulting from the nature of work. Since teachers work in a highly stressful environment, they experience a multitude of stressors and emotional problems (Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke, 2018). The high levels of stress are exacerbated by the fact that teachers experience higher levels of accountability across schools and classrooms. The high levels of stress in the teaching profession have been the source of teacher burnout. Teacher burnout has serious effects on the education sector as it affects teacher wellbeing, contributes to teacher turnover, and affects the implementation of positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS) in the classroom. Moreover, teacher burnout is linked to job absenteeism, diminished performance, and irritability. As a result, preventing and mitigating teacher burnout is critical to enhancing their effectiveness in the classroom and improving student performance.

Definition Teacher Burnout

Ross, Romer & Horner (2011) define teacher burnout as the outcome of continuous exposure to job-related stressors. In concurrence, Weißenfels, Klopp & Perels (2022) contend that teacher burnout is multidimensional but largely influenced by job-related stressors. The core dimensions of teacher burnout include overwhelming exhaustion, detachment from the job, feelings of cynicism, a sense of lack of achievement and ineffectiveness. However, the key dimension of teacher burnout is emotional exhaustion, which is essentially an actual stress reaction. Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke (2018) emphasize emotional exhaustion in teacher burnout by defining this concept as an accumulation of responses to increased stressors caused by one’s job. According to these researchers, the core dimensions of teacher burnout include emotional exhaustion, low levels of self-efficacy, and cynicism or depersonalization.

Implications of Teacher Burnout

The effects of teacher burnout in relation to student outcomes have been the subject of numerous studies in recent years. Ross, Romer & Horner (2011) contend that teacher burnout has far-reaching implications that are linked to mental health issues, poor job performance, increased job absenteeism, and increased healthcare costs. Teachers experiencing burnout tend to feel less effective and experience numerous challenges in their efforts to actively engage in teaching practices. Therefore, teacher burnout lessens the quality and fidelity with which teachers implement educational programs. The far-reaching impacts of teacher burnout are associated with three major components i.e. emotional exhaustion, reduced feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement, and depersonalization (Ross, Romer & Horner, 2011).

As a result of emotional exhaustion, teachers experiencing burnout are tired, drained, and fatigued. These feelings make teachers believe they are no longer capable of giving students what they once could. In essence, emotional exhaustion makes it difficult for teachers to have positive feelings towards their students and the teaching process. On the other hand, depersonalization affects teachers by making them develop negative attitudes or feel indifferent towards students and teaching practice (Ross, Romer & Horner, 2011; Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke, 2018). These two components in turn contribute to the third one, which is decreased sense of personal achievement. In essence, the stressful experiences of teachers experiencing burnout make them become less satisfied with and unenthusiastic about their jobs. Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke (2018) further contend that teacher burnout makes it difficult for teachers to implement educational programs that support their students. This is primarily because burnout makes them indifferent to the educational process.

In addition to having significant impacts on teaching practice, teacher burnout also has significant negative effects on the individual teacher. First, there is a strong reciprocal effect between teacher burnout and teacher self-efficacy (Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke, 2018; Weißenfels, Klopp & Perels, 2022). Teacher burnout affects teacher self-efficacy by generating a lack of confidence and a sense of ineffectiveness. In essence, teacher burnout is a major contributor to low efficacy among teachers, which results in poor student outcomes. Low efficacy emanating from teacher burnout leads to poor student outcomes by making teachers feel incompetent to manage student behaviors and promote their students’ academic achievements. Weißenfels, Klopp & Perels (2022) suggest that teachers with low self-efficacy due to burnout show less enthusiasm toward teaching. Teacher burnout affects the levels of self-efficacy by making these professionals feel overwhelmed from responding to the emotional and educational needs of their students. In essence, teacher burnout contributes to an emotional workload, which in turn produces low self-efficacy.

Secondly, existing literature demonstrates that teacher burnout interferes with the implementation of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) for teachers (Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke, 2018). PBIS is implemented in schools to help equip school personnel like teachers with resources and skills to carry out their responsibilities competently. Teachers experiencing burnout affect the implementation of such supportive programs because they feel emotionally exhausted and detached from teaching.

Herman, Hickmon-Rosa & Reinke (2018) further contend that teacher burnout is one of the major contributors to teacher turnover. According to the findings of recent studies, nearly 50% of teachers who leave the profession do so because of high levels of stress (Ross, Romer & Horner, 2011). The stress emanating from the nature of the teaching work in turn generates huge personal, financial, and societal burden that sometimes forces teachers to leave the field. The high rates of teacher turnover are attributable to burnout, which is brought about by factors in the educational setting and the nature of work (Ross, Romer & Horner, 2011). High rates of teacher turnover in turn create instability within the learning environment.