The 5 Types of Teacher Burnout (and How to Extinguish Them)

As I write this, it's March, the time when many educators begin planning for the next school year, and when teachers have to start deciding whether or not they're going to return in the fall.

Meanwhile, almost daily, my various news feeds seem to bring me articles about teachers who quit, teachers who choose to stay, and theories proposing reasons why teachers burn out. Most of these discussions bring up fair points, but I almost always walk away from them disappointed.

Sometimes, it's because the situation being described is pretty narrow and doesn't look like the version of burnout I'm experiencing, or it only raises problems and solutions for one narrow portion of a more complex problem. But like most things in education, teacher burnout isn't a simple problem with one shared experience and one easy solution.

Feeling the Heat
The reality is that, just as there are many different kinds of teachers, schools, and students, there is more than one root cause of teacher burnout. And when society tries to talk about it holistically, then those conversations risk falling flat for the listeners who need that dialogue most: administrators, lawmakers, parents, and the teachers who need to hear it most.

For example - I've known teachers who have (essentially) said, "Well, it could be worse, so I probably just need to suck it up." But in reality, what the teacher was feeling at the time was completely valid too. Suppressing or misdiagnosing our own feelings helps no one. 

Be Part of the Solution
These types of burnout can overlap, can leave and reappear, can be seasonal occurrences, and sometimes can be fixed completely. This post can't possibly address every systematic change that could or should happen to reduce the number of good teachers who quit the profession. While our society DOES need to think more critically about how we value and reward good teachers, I'm focusing today on how to triage individual cases of burnout.

Burnout Type #1: Health and/or Family

What it looks like: The easiest type of teacher burnout to forgive, the Health and Family category may apply to you if the situation at home needs more time and attention than you can successfully balance with teaching (or, at least your current teaching situation). Maybe you have a new child, have a health condition, or have something else going on at home. But whether it's because you're in a caretaker role or need to take more care of yourself, you're burning the candle at both ends trying to meet so many needs at once.

How to extinguish it: Your solution will vary by the situation, and quitting your current teaching job may be a completely valid course of action. If you want to try to make it all work, you may need to be more honest about how much you can reasonably accomplish in a day, and negotiate with other people (at school AND home) about what tasks they can either share or take completely. No matter what, you have to live with your decision, so do what's best for you and your family. 

Pro Tip: Whose opinions are you asking about this topic? Are they TOO biased? Do you need a more objective person to help you decide what to do? 

How to help:

• Pitch in, even if only on a one-time basis. The teacher will see the kindness beneath your gesture and will appreciate that just as much as the action. 
• Don't judge. As hard as it might be, accept both how the teacher is feeling and what he or she does to try to fix it. Though you might not like their leaving/staying, give him or her respect for what is being done to make it work, and trust that the situation is serious enough to merit conversations and/or change. 

Burnout Type #2: Exhaustion

What it looks like: You're beyond tired - you hurt physically, mentally, emotionally, or all three. Every little task, from getting up in the morning to writing an email, takes increasingly more effort to complete. Your fuse is getting shorter, as is your ability to deal flexibly with changes, outliers, or more things getting added to your plate.

How to extinguish it: Though you might need more hours of sleep - even just one good night's worth - getting more sleep might not be possible, and it might not truly fix the underlying causes of your exhaustion anyway.

Think about where your time is being spent, if that time-consumer is being dealt with efficiently, and if there's light at the end of the tunnel. Are you in a heavy season of grading that will soon be over? Are you trying to accomplish too much each day? Are there people at school or home who could help you solve a problem? Are you taking care of yourself?

Meanwhile, if you can't get more sleep, what CAN you do? Is it time for a power nap? A massage? More caffiene? A quick walk? Boost your energy long enough to get a positive outlook again. 

Pro Tip: Don't just self-medicate with food and caffeine. Flip through the Humor section of Pinterest, adjust your music playlist, or watch a good video that will wake you up and make you feel better. 

How to help:

• Ask questions. Help the person pinpoint the sources of exhaustion and problem-solve out of them. Listen if she needs to vent. Share ideas if he's looking for advice. 
• Be patient. If he isn't as social as you'd like, or if she isn't meeting your needs right now, try to understand that the teacher is behaving this way for a reason, and might be legally required to persist through her current workload. Now is not the time to draw conclusions about either of you as individuals or your relationship together.

Pro Tip: One time, our principal teamed up with a masseuse to give us 10-minute back and shoulder rubs. Can you recruit help for a person who needs it?

Burnout Type #3: Overload

What it looks like: A cousin of Exhaustion and the twin of being Overwhelmed, this type of burnout is different because you may or may not have the energy to deal with all ten-thousand tasks on your to-do list. Between planning, teaching, meetings, grading, the extra-curricular club you run, the forms to fill out, the emails to answer... and, oh yeah, your home life... there's just WAY too much to do, and you're not sure how much longer you can keep trying (and failing) to do it all.

How to extinguish it: If any of your workload is self-imposed, it might be time to either say no or do it differently. Are there changes within your control that could be made to your curriculum? Could your assignment or rubric be changed to be easier to assess? Are you optimizing what can be done when (and how fast)? Does something need to go? Are you taking on things that someone else could (or should) do?

In the short term, you may need to keep your promises and finish what's currently ON your plate, but at the very least, you may need to be more honest about how you got here and if it's all really necessary.

How to help:

• Offer assistance, if you can. Ask if you can take something off his or her to-do list, do it WITH them, or somehow add some comic relief to the situation. 
• Be patient. If it's temporary overload, then just ride it out. If it's a pattern, then try to be part of the solution instead of being resentful about it. 

Pro Tip: Get him or her a Teachers Pay Teachers gift card to help out with planning and creating (and spend more time on something else!)

Burnout Type #4: Insufficient Support

What it looks like: Frustration, confusion, or uncertainty might be the norm. You need help, but maybe aren't sure whom you could ask, what to ask for, or if it would even help. Maybe you need someone else to have your back and support you in a situation with a parent. Maybe a unit or lesson are difficult to teach. Maybe classroom management is really hard right now. Maybe you need a small army to help you alphabetize, cut things out, clean up, or grade things. Maybe there isn't enough money to do what you think the kids want or need. A safe mentor or aide would be nice right now, but for whatever reason, you don't feel like you have the help you need.

How to extinguish it: Recruit, IF you can. Can you bring in parent volunteers? Get a student teacher or student observer? Join forces with a co-worker, and have their back in return when they next need help? Can you ask a colleague what he/she does in the same situation? Can you observe someone else's classroom? Can you find someone else who has been there, done that? Would internet research help? Can someone either help you grade, or keep you company while you do it? Do you need to involve an administrator to either support you in the short-term situation now, or help you make a change?

Pro Tip: Use a digital signup form, like SignUpGenius, or an online donation website, to get what you need.    

How to help:

• Offer, even if the person says no. Be willing to help with both the mind-numbing tasks AND the more creative ones. 
• Recommend a person or resource. Suggest an option. Even if it doesn't help, it might trigger a good idea. 

Burnout Type #5: Greener Grass 

What it looks like: There's another career option that looks REALLY tempting right now. If things are hard at school, maybe you're wondering if either another school, or another career route altogether, are the way to go. OR, perhaps things are "fine" at school, but you have another dream as well that is an exciting possibility. Maybe you're looking around at your current position and wondering if you could stay put for 20 more years. Is the grass really going to be greener if you go somewhere else?

How to extinguish it: Ask yourself what quality or characteristic of this alternative is so appealing to you. Is it the salary? Is it other benefits? Is it something to do with passion, interest, or quality of life? Think about what you want, if you can modify your current job to get it, and if the new job really would give it to you.

Pro Tip: Talk to an honest person in that other career field. Ask them about BOTH what is great AND terrible about it. 

How to help:

• Be encouraging. Don't immediately dismiss an idea, even if it seems risky. 
• Help the person make the right decision at the right time. Is now the best time to be making this choice, or would it be smarter to make it a few weeks or months from now? Is this questioning coming from a healthy place, and for the right reasons? Do you have all the facts? Is there a safe way to let the person know if now isn't the best time?

Parting Thoughts

I don't necessarily hope that this post has pushed you toward or away from teaching, but I do hope more people stop looking at "burnout" as one diagnosis when it's far more nuanced than that. Asking the right questions can go farther to undo or prevent burnout than any single band-aid action can. 

If you have anything to add, or if something that was said here resonated with you, please let me know in the comments section!