Best Practice

School staff burn-out: How to prevent it taking hold

Staff wellbeing Mental health Workload
The threat of burn-out is real and present for teachers. Steve Waters considers the signs and the workplace factors that drive burn-out. He also offers 10 ways schools can protect staff and 7 things teachers themselves can do
Burnt-out? A third of teachers in England are considering quitting mainly because they are worried they are burning out or because they are experiencing its symptoms - Adobe Stock

The first mention of “burn-out” was in the 1970s when psychologist Herbert Freudenberger borrowed the term from drug users to describe the emotional, physical and psychological exhaustion experienced by workers in the helping professions, including teachers (Freudenberger, 1974).

His work highlighted the impact of chronic stress, disillusionment and energy depletion among those who had strong values but faced difficult working conditions.

In addition to emotional exhaustion, Freudenberger identified detachment from work and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment as core burn-out components.

Freudenberger's exploration of burn-out was expanded by social psychologist Christina Maslach, whose Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) in the 1980s provided a tool to measure workplace burn-out (see Maslach & Jackson, 1981).

Today, a third of all teachers in England are considering leaving, largely either because they are worried they are burning out or because they are experiencing its symptoms (DfE, 2024).

 

Signs of burn-out

Recognising burn-out early is crucial in preventing its long-term effects. Some key signs include:

  • Emotional exhaustion: Feeling drained, tired, and unable to recover, even after taking time off.
  • Cynicism: Developing a negative or detached attitude towards work, colleagues, or students.
  • Decreased performance: Struggling to meet work expectations, with tasks feeling overwhelming.
  • Physical symptoms: Regular headaches, stomach discomfort, sleep disturbances, or frequent illness.
  • Emotional changes: Increased irritability, anxiety, depression, or feelings of helplessness.

 

How to prevent burn-out taking hold

Historically, mental ill-health was often framed by medicine as an individual problem and treated without reference to societal causes. In the 1960s and 1970s, psychologists like Freudenberger argued that mental health problems could also be a response to workplace stress. A growing body of research supports the view that work-related stress can lead to anxiety, depression and burn-out (Gaspar et al, 2024). Maslach (Maslach & Leiter, 2000) identified six workplace factors contributing to burn-out:

  1. A lack of professional control.
  2. Conflict of values.
  3. A lack of fairness.
  4. A lack of autonomy.
  5. A lack of community.
  6. Work overload

There has recently been a move in some schools towards creating a uniform strategy of delivering lessons across a school or trust. While on the surface this might look appealing, if it causes a lack of control and professional autonomy, it might lead to burn-out, especially if Maslach’s other factors are partly or wholly present.

As a teacher for more than 30 years I certainly experienced burn-out and this, coupled with my work supporting the mental health of staff in schools, has led me to conclude that it requires a collaborative approach between individual staff members and leadership to prevent burn-out taking hold – with professional control and autonomy key factors.

 

Schools and leadership

Promote a positive work culture: Cultivate an environment where staff feel valued, supported, and appreciated. Recognition can reduce feelings of burn-out. Jeremy Hannay, headteacher of Three Bridges Primary School in London, describes it as “putting staff in a soil that is nutrient rich” (Waters, 2021).

Encourage collaboration: Create opportunities for staff to collaborate and share resources. Being part of a team reduces isolation and creates community.

Provide adequate resources: Ensure staff have the tools, materials, and support they need to do their jobs effectively. Overburdening staff with unrealistic expectations because of insufficient resources is a common cause of burn-out. This is challenging, given financial constraints. Consider adapting the curriculum or specific aspects of it to match the resources available.

Implement flexible policies: Where possible, offer flexible working hours, job-sharing, part-time contracts, or remote working options. This is, of course, much more challenging than in desk-based occupations. Charles Dickens Primary School and Thomas Gainsborough School are two of 12 Department for Education ambassador schools working to explore flexible working (see Crow, 2023; Thomas Gainsborough website).

Monitor workload: Regularly review workloads to ensure they are manageable. Some schools survey staff each term, for example. Ensure that there is a reasonable distribution of tasks. Try to avoid piling too much onto any one individual or team. Many schools create boundaries for staff, e.g. no emails to be sent before 8am and after 5pm (see DfE, 2024).

Provide mental health resources: Offer access to counselling services – for example through an Employment Assistance Programme – mindfulness course, or stress management workshops.

Foster open communication: Encourage a culture where staff feel comfortable discussing their concerns with leadership. Provide regular check-ins/surveys to monitor staff mental health. Ensure that you act on the results – demoralisation and cynicism often emerge where inaction follows the identification of issues.

Promote CPD: Encourage continuous learning and growth, which can reignite a sense of purpose and personal accomplishment. Ensure that CPD is not tokenistic, e.g. 30 minutes on wellbeing in a staff meeting.

Celebrate achievements: Acknowledge the hard work of staff and celebrate milestones. This can boost morale and make staff feel valued.

Act as a buffer to external demands: For example, the idea that high-stakes accountability is needed to ensure improvement is prevalent in education. This has led to strategies such as frequent observations, teacher planner checks, teachers being required to submit lesson plans, and marking reviews. This leads to teachers feeling that they have little or no agency over their professional lives. Many schools are successful without using these management strategies. For more see Jeremy Hannay’s interview in Chapter 7 of Cultures of Staff Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools (Waters, 2021)

 

Individual staff members

The following strategies are frequently suggested by mental health organisations and will come as no surprise to school staff. While they sound achievable, school staff often say that they are practically challenging because they are always “on” – thinking about work even when trying to relax:

  • Prioritise self-care: Exercise, even for a few minutes each day. Get sufficient sleep. Maintain a healthy work/life balance.
  • Set boundaries: Avoid the temptation to answer emails or work outside of the boundaries that the school has created or that you have set yourself.
  • Seek support: Seek professional counselling. Try to have honest, open conversations with colleagues you trust. Building a support network helps to reduce feelings of isolation.
  • Develop time-management skills: Organise tasks by priority and break them into smaller, manageable steps. Delegate if possible.
  • Practise mindfulness: Incorporate mindfulness exercises into your daily routine to reduce stress and focus on the present, instead of ruminating about the past or worrying about the future.
  • Foster professional growth: Attend training sessions or workshops to refresh your skills and reignite your passion for teaching. Or take up a hobby unconnected with teaching to give you another interest.
  • Regular reflection: Reflect on your work and how it aligns with your values. Celebrate successes, no matter how small.

 

Final thoughts

Preventing burn-out taking hold is not solely the responsibility of individual staff members or school leaders – it is a shared effort. While individuals should take proactive steps to protect their own wellbeing, it is the responsibility of school leadership to create an environment that supports and nurtures staff. This gives staff every chance of remaining engaged, mentally and physically healthy, and motivated.

  • Steve Waters is the co-founder of Teach Well Toolkit, which supports schools to build a culture of staff mental wellbeing and delivers DfE senior mental health lead training. His book Cultures of Staff Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools is used on the course. Steve taught English and drama in secondary schools for 30 years. He is a qualified counsellor and First Aid for Mental Health instructor. Steve has lived experience of burn-out while teaching. Visit www.teachwelltoolkit.com/pages/mental-health-support-for-your-school 

 

Further information & references

 

Headteacher Update Podcast: Staff wellbeing in schools

Two episodes of the Headteacher UpdatePodcast have focused on how schools and staff themselves can protect wellbeing and mental health – A school leadership survival guide (October 2023) and Protecting staff wellbeing across the school (June 2021).