Burnout Prevention for Teachers

Staying Grounded in a World That Won’t Slow Down

image created by AI: Stressed out teacher sitting with laptop and books on a desk

Teaching has always been demanding, but in today’s world, where expectations are high, resources are stretched, and change is constant, it can feel  exhausting trying to stay on top of everything.

Burnout is a real and rising threat to educators everywhere. But it doesn’t have to be inevitable.

Here are some practical ways teachers can protect their energy, preserve their passion, and stay afloat, even when the world feels overwhelming.

Get on top of things early

One of the most powerful burnout prevention strategies is early intervention.

Problems tend to build slowly. A missed deadline here, a difficult student there, a creeping sense of exhaustion. The key is to notice these signs before they escalate.

When I first started teaching over 30 years ago, I used to let marking pile up until Sunday night, which led to stress and sleeplessness. After a particularly difficult term, I  changed my approach and made sure that I did 30 to 45 minutes of teaching a day.

By tackling tasks in small, consistent doses, I managed to avoid a pile of work and was able to get my weekends back.

Communicate clearly and  often

Good communication is about being honest, assertive, and proactive.

Teachers can sometimes suffer in silence and might be afraid to ask for help or admit they’re struggling. But I’ve found that bottling things up only makes them worse.

Whether it’s with colleagues, leadership, or students, open dialogue can help get rid of  tension and provide some support. Teacher workloads can often be unmanageable, and some student’s behaviour might affect your wellbeing.  It’s important to raise these things early with a line manager. I’ve found that hoping that things get better by themselves or just pretending that things are ok, doesn’t usually work well.

When I was a head of department, I once found myself juggling lesson planning, pastoral care, and exam prep with no breathing room. Instead of soldiering on,I  scheduled a meeting with my line manager. I didn’t complain about my workload, instead I just laid out the facts. We reshuffled some responsibilities, and I felt heard.

Burnout thrives in isolation. Communication breaks that cycle.

Don’t take it home

I gradually learned to leave work at work. Teaching can be emotional. I cared about the students I taught and it was easy to hang onto problems each student told me about over a week. But  I realised that carrying every problem home with me, drained me, so my weekend flew by without me getting the chance to relax.

So learned to set boundaries.  I created  rituals to mark the end of the day. Sometimes it was a walk, a podcast, or simply shutting my laptop down  and saying, “That’s enough for today.”

I’ve worked in difficult schools where students had lots of problems, and sometimes it was easy to replay difficult moments in my head all evening. Sometimes I’d lie awake thinking about a student who cried, or a lesson that flopped.  It was exhausting.

I went back to something I was encouraged to do as a beginning teacher.  I journaled for five minutes after school, just dumping down those disturbing incidents that had happened in the day into a notebook. Then would close the notebook and move on.“It helped me process without obsessing so I could sleep better, and be  more present at home.”

Find joy in the small things

Burnout is about losing sight of why I started teaching.

So it’s good to try to reconnect with the parts of teaching that lit me up.  Even now thirty years later, I recall the student who used to cheer the class up with his antics that temporarily disrupted the class.  It disrupted my lesson flow but I was happy to sit back and just watch and listen to him making jokes.

Then there were the lessons that went really well.  At the end of some lessons I used to feel that the vast majority of students had made progress with a topic.  There was that buzz of working in the room, a lesson where students wanted to do more work at the end of the lesson. 

Then there were the thank you cards from students each year, and the times when former students would recognise me and stop me when I was out to thank me for teaching them and tell me about how the skills they had developed had helped them move on positively with their lives.

Those memories when into a feel good file in my head and I would revisit it when the days felt heavy.

Keeping burnout away

Burnout can creep up on teachers slowly, but with awareness, boundaries, and support, it can be held at bay. Teaching is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself. Speak up. Let go.

And remember that you don’t have to fix everything. You just have to show up, do your best, and protect your peace.  And remember that you matter too.