This is our 6th installment in our blog series for Educators.
Resilience refers to a person’s ability to rebound and bounce back quickly in the face of adversity. We hear a lot today about the importance of resilience in the business world. Professionals, particularly young professionals, are being challenged to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing landscape. The companies that are aware of this and providing the tools their employees need to adapt and grow are reaping the rewards of being proactive. Employees are responding by incorporating their new life skills into their professional lives and reporting higher levels of job satisfaction. But what about our educators? Has the topic of resilience and assistance of creating resiliency been addressed with this segment of the professional world? Teacher resilience refers to the capacity of teachers to survive and thrive in extremely adverse circumstances and still sustain their educational purposes. Is it just expected that teachers are “wired” this way? Is the increased stress and workload teachers are reporting in our post-pandemic world just the price of being a teacher? To think in those terms is doing a tremendous disservice to a profession that is already in crisis.
Being a teacher is an emotionally demanding job; but along with the innate challenge comes the potential for a high level of personal satisfaction. Teachers are expected to create, to challenge, to entertain and to illicit curiosity and gently discipline. They are expected to constantly display positive emotions and patience. However, stress, anxiety, and depression in teachers is higher than in many other occupational groups. Teacher burnout is at an all-time high. Resilience is one of the most important factors that can sustain teachers in the increasingly challenging profession; but how do we get there?
Teachers need to be recognized as the professionals that they are. They are typically expected to take on increased workloads and work under highly stressful conditions with varying degrees of support. What if, rather than raising expectations, we encouraged them to pause? To practice mindfulness techniques? To encourage them to be centered and provided them the tools they require to build their resiliency muscle?
School systems need to adapt and change and support their most important assets: teachers. How can an educator be expected to support others when they are not first taking care of themselves? Time must be made for teacher wellness and well-being. If this topic continues to be over-looked, the mass exodus of teachers leaving the profession will continue and the educational crisis will rage on. Maybe we should really stop for a moment, take a deep breath, pause and think about that.