What We Can Do About Teacher Burnout

Short-term solutions while we wait for a long-term fix.

Educators are serving our country. Let's reframe the caring professions and give hard working professionals the benefits we deserve.

Often considered the 'care professions,' nursing, education and child-care have always seen high burn-out rates. These 'pink- collar professions’ are historically female-dominated and grueling. 

College students often choose a career in nursing or education eager to make a difference in people's lives. When we choose this career, we assume it will be a long-term decision. Many of us envision ourselves in this job until retirement. Young professionals entering a teaching career are told that it's difficult, but rewarding. We’re told the pay isn't great, but it's worth it for the kids. Young educators are eager to begin our long careers as educators, never imagining a quick and steady decline. 

In a decades-long study conducted by Richard Ingersoll, it was confirmed that 44% of new teachers will leave the profession within the first 5 years. Almost 50% of teachers expressed a plan or desire to quit or transfer jobs according to a recent APA survey. Those are pre-pandemic numbers. Harrowing. 

As a public school teacher, I can confirm that my anecdotal evidence supports these statistics. I've seen many colleagues leave the profession and a few have made strategic pivots. The mass exodus is likely due to things like impossibly long hours, insurmountable workload, and unfair expectations. I have been a music educator for 14 years and I can say with certainty that I would have never made it this long as a traditional classroom teacher. 

I have taught in New York City, Massachusetts, Maine and even abroad in Singapore. I have watched devastated young teachers come to terms with the fact that their dream job is making them miserable. These highly qualified, passionate teachers thought they had a calling to make a difference and become a teacher. Imagine how difficult it is, then, to become burned out and ultimately decide to quit your job (and therefore walk away from your dream career)?

We are often encouraged to stay for the kids. “Children need good teachers” is the sentiment that is perpetuated in our society. We are a career of highly-empathetic people so we are easy targets for this kind of messaging. Considering a career change would bring about questions on our dedication to kids.

Teachers are often unsure of what an alternate career might be. If we went to school for education, what other professions are we even qualified for? There are very few resources readily available for teachers who are looking for a new career. 

I'd like to propose a reframe. Let's start to talk about the caring professions like teaching (and nursing and child care too!) as a national service. As educators, we are serving your country in the time we spend in this profession. In this reframe, we are recognizing the hardship and hazard that comes with this career. We are also recognizing that it may be a short-term commitment. For many, teaching isn't meant to be a 30 year career. Instead, a shorter service term would be the norm, with the option to continue. After our years of service, the government would assist educators in transitioning to a new career. 

Additional benefits and incentives would be ideal, like assistance in paying for another degree for an educator’s next career. Public Service Loan Forgiveness is also an important benefit that teachers should continue to receive. I, myself, had a significant amount of student loans forgiven after teaching for 10 years under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. 10 years is a long stint but this is a life-changing benefit that should be made available to ALL public servants (educators with private loans are ineligible to receive this benefit). 

While my proposed replan for the caring professions is a short-term goal, there are certainly long-term solutions to the teacher shortage, many of which you've heard before. Educators have been clear that we need better funding and more resources, including time. We also need and deserve more compensation. Finally, we need respect from the administration and from the general public. We want to be treated as the highly qualified professionals that we are.

We need educators for the almost 50 million students we have enrolled in public schools. If we plan to recruit and retain teachers, we need to be willing to make some changes and finally invest in education.