Sadly, stress is a common word in a working professional’s life and teachers are no exception. Getting burnout is common among teachers. Hence, the school administration should take steps to help teachers to deal with stress and burnout and take enough measures to reduce it. It should be a top priority of the management.
Burnout among teachers is a serious issue. It not only affects teachers’ productivity but also the students’ performance and the overall school culture. Additionally, now that most schools have gone online and started using online classes app to teach students,
Here are some suggestions on how you as a member of the school management can address the issue of teacher burnout.
1. Include Them in the Decision-Making Process
Give a chance to your teachers to voice out their opinions, and make them a part of your decision-making process. Ask for their opinions through meetings and questionnaires. Get teachers engaged in important decisions at your school whenever you can. After all, they are the ones who interact with students and families on a daily basis.
2. Promote Healthy Relationships Among Teachers
A teacher can be a teacher’s best friend. Since they deal with the same type of problems, they can be of great help to each other. Encourage the development of relationships between your teachers. Whenever possible, conduct sessions or arrange discussion sessions for teachers who teach the same subject to different grades in the school and let them talk about the problems that they face, how it is different and their experiences.
Apart from this, also encourage common teacher lesson planning where teachers can plan how to go about teaching a particular lesson, give out the same assignments and tests, and collaborate on problem-solving during common planning hours.
You can also encourage them to take certain classes together and make learning fun for the students. If your teachers teach online, encourage them to organize collaborative classroom activities using technologies and online games. A fun learning session also helps teachers reduce stress.
3. Promote the Importance of Work-Life Balance
Do not encourage overworking for your teachers. Give them enough breaks between classes and do not schedule consecutive classes for them. Also, make sure that they are leaving school on time.
Encourage your teachers to prioritize their mental health and take breaks every now and then. This not only reduces burnout but also makes them more productive.
4. Give Clear Feedback
Give constructive feedback and be specific about it, no matter how new or experienced the teacher is, they deserve proper, specific feedback.
If a teacher has not performed well, give them proper reasons and advice on why they scored less, where they are lacking and how they can improve.
Final Thoughts
Teacher burnout is a serious matter and should be dealt with in every way possible. Incorporating good working culture is important for making the learning experience better for the students and to grow to be a better school. If you pay attention to teachers, they would take your school to new heights.
