This is our 3rd installment in our blog series for Educators
In 2019, the World Health Organization formally defined “burnout” as an occupational phenomenon that is the result of “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
At some point in your career, you will probably experience burnout. There are many symptoms associated with the condition. The symptoms that are typically cited include exhaustion, apathy, and general feelings of cynicism. You might find it difficult to be happy or excited about anything. The glass is chronically “half empty”. If you have ever been burned out, at any time in your life, those symptoms probably sound familiar. During that period, people may have complained about your irritability. Or things that had once been of interest to you were now dull or lifeless. You just didn’t have the energy to expel any effort into doing anything other than what it took to survive. You slept more and laughed less.
Other people may experience burnout as an overwhelming feeling of dread or a general sense of anxiety. Anything that was proposed to you automatically imagined it resulting in worst-case scenario. Your patience was chronically thin, and you often second guessed your career decisions.
According to recent research, there are also additional symptoms of burnout that may often be overlooked. Included are procrastination and constant distraction. The inability to focus and finish the task at hand leads to additional frustration as the work continues to pile up and the cycle of overwhelming amounts of work to complete and no energy or focus to complete it.
The two most powerful solutions to burnout are structural empowerment and emotional empowerment. Does the employee have the support of their managers? Are the systems in place designed to back the teacher? Is the school an environment of trust?
And how strong are the teachers’ emotional resources? Do they feel in control? Are they empowered and focused? Does their work life blur into their personal life thus never allowing them time to refocus?
Teacher burnout is a very real phenomenon that is continuing to grow and is reaching crisis levels. By recognizing all potential symptoms, assistance and support may be more readily provided. The greatest remedy for preventing burnout is empowerment- both internal and external. By providing educators with the emotional and administrative support they need, the chances become much greater for exterminating burnout and turning the present educational crisis around.