WASHINGTON (Feb. 9, 2022) — A recent survey by the National Education Association finds staff shortages in public schools are leaving educators increasingly burned out. According to the survey, 55% of educators are ready to leave the education field earlier than planned.

The George Washington University has experts available to discuss educator burnout.

Michael Feuer, dean of the GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development. 

From Dean Feuer:
“Teacher retention has been a concern for a long time in the United States due to lower salaries, challenging work conditions, and limited resources and support for very difficult work. Like many other professions across our country now that are experiencing disruption and turmoil, though, the pandemic has intensified feelings of anxiety and exhaustion. Educators are trying to teach students who are also feeling stressed, while covering for colleagues who are out sick with COVID-19 and also navigating political minefields such as mask mandates and Critical Race Theory.

We are extremely concerned with the effects of teacher departures on kids in schools. We need to find ways to encourage educators to stay in their field. This may be an opportunity to elevate the profession of teaching to the level of respect and importance that it is afforded in other countries around the world.”

 

Matthew Shirrell, assistant professor of educational leadership and administration

From Dr. Shirrell: 
“The results of the recent NEA survey again highlight the connection between the working conditions teachers face in their schools and their retention in teaching. Research, including my own work, shows that a safe and supportive workplace where teachers can learn and improve in collaboration with their colleagues is key to teacher retention. My research has also shown the positive impacts of a more diverse teacher workforce on Black and Latino students. The recent NEA survey, however, shows that the pandemic has increased the demands on teachers and left many teachers concerned about basic safety precautions in their schools. It is particularly troubling that Black and Latino teachers are more likely to report leaving teaching sooner than expected, and to report inadequate ventilation in their schools. Addressing the basic safety and support concerns of teachers is fundamental to making schools into workplaces that people want to remain in and not leave, especially in schools that serve Black and Latino students.”

 

Beth Tuckwiller, associate professor of special education and disability studies

From Dr. Tuckwiller:
“The language often invoked around teacher burnout assigns responsibility for experiences of burnout to teachers, and connects their feelings of burnout to workload, salary, or most recently staffing shortages. Although these practical challenges contribute to burnout, they provide an incomplete explanation, and at times a fundamental misattribution, of root causes of and responsibility for the phenomenon of teacher burnout. Teachers “feel” burned out because school systems actively burn them out: lack of attention to teachers’ diverse experiences and mental health needs, failure to proactively cultivate professional well-being to help mitigate negative effects of stress, and underestimation of the critical importance of sense of belonging and positive, connected relationships among adults in school buildings represent considerable missed opportunities to reduce burnout and increase educator well-being. 

We are far overdue in naming teacher burnout as a system-level issue rather than ‘just’ an individual teacher issue. School systems, districts, and leaders have an opportunity and responsibility to challenge structures that burn teachers out and prioritize educational initiatives and cultures of care that value and honor teachers as humans, not merely ‘human resources.’”

-GW-