I hit a nerve. This week I had the opportunity to discuss teacher burnout via social media platform and teachers from around the world chimed in. I kept thinking about that phrase people sometimes use over a sticky business decision—“It’s not personal it is just business.” It mocks the idea that when someone makes an unpopular professional decision that it was impersonal. Now, I have never heard this phrase used in education because honestly a lot of the decisions are just made, and teachers are told this is the way things are going to be. End of discussion. So, before I even begin to summarize the main topics of this week’s discussion, I would argue that communication is a way to reduce the burnout and increase the retention.
I have found that there is no other profession that merges with the personal as often as teaching. Let’s face it, the teaching profession is not the highest paid. Most teachers pay for supplies and resources with their own money. Often, a teacher is one of the few adults that a child can count on because they see them at least 5 days a week. Many teachers go above and beyond building relationships with their students using their personal time going to sporting events, award ceremonies, plays, graduations, and school organizations/clubs. I am hearing Uncle Ben’s great advice to Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spiderman, where he says, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
As mentioned, during this week I facilitated a conversation with teachers internationally about teacher burnout and more importantly retention. There were 5 questions released on social media over 5 days. Here are the questions:
- How do the demands of teaching affect your mental state?
- What do you do to balance the teaching profession and personal life?
- What one moment made teaching worth it all?
- Identify one thing that helps you deal with the stress of teaching. Explain.
- How can we keep good teachers in the education profession?
The general tone from participants was pride. So many teachers were excited about their jobs even with some of the frustrations over the high demands. When it comes down to it, teachers just want to teach and support their students in the classroom. Teaching feels like a calling and the most important skill is service with compassion. This can be service in a well thought out lesson plan to taking time after school to listen to a student’s grievance.
Since there is so much time dedicated to teaching inside the classroom and out, many teachers voiced a difficulty in finding the balance. One teacher suggested using a calendar to set 2 days a week for work after school hours. I liked this idea because it would reduce the anxiety. We already know that there will need to be time outside of school to keep up with the work, so why not tell yourself when you will do it and open the rest of the week to spending time with family, friends, and hobbies.
Lastly, we shared with each other special moments that have made teaching all the worthwhile. Several teachers voiced that the best gift was when a past student knocked on the door only just to say hello., Sometimes they come by to share a story of how you changed their life for the better. This brings us back to the idea of the teaching business as personal. We just don’t really know sometimes how much our students are depending on us. The sacrifice of time and just listening is exponential. My informal assessment based on this global conversation has created a list of 3 simple rules to support and retain our teachers:
- Respect Time
- Communicate Clearly
- Create Opportunities for Work – Life Balance
Until next time…
See You Real Soon,
Erin
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Erin…loved reading your views on this..especially addressing “life balance.” Many of your thoughts pertain to other occupations as well..I was a banker for 20+ years. Although I was not teaching children, I was educationg clients and always wanted to “be there” for them. Loved your writing, and hope you will contined your inspirational postings.
By the way, I see Eileen shared this…if she is your mother, please give her a hug from me. We will always be “frienfs forever.:
Thank you, Nina. I always think that some of the things that I share can be applied to other professions. So, I appreciate your thoughts and connections. Yes, Eileen is my mother. I will give her a hug for you next time I see her.