How Does Teacher Burnout Affect Students? From an Ex-Teacher

Wondering how teacher burnout affects students? You’re in the right place.

As a former teacher who worked in the classroom for 10 years and eventually burned out, I am all too aware of how teacher burnout affects teachers and their families, but also the students too.

How does teacher burnout affect students? The truth is, teaching is a very hard job to fake. If the teacher doesn’t want to be there, then it’s almost impossible for that to not rub off on the students somehow.

This has consequences for student engagement in school, their education, the amount of support they’re receiving, and maybe even their outcomes later on.

Teachers can have such a huge impact on students; good and bad. Students of all ages deserve teachers who have the capacity and energy to be there for them and support them. When the teacher’s heart isn’t in it, the students miss out.

Let’s get into the specifics about how teacher burnout affects students.

Important: I want to make it very clear that this article is not intended to blame teachers for their burnout. I myself am a teacher who burned out, and you can read more about my story here.

6 Ways that Teacher Burnout Can Affect Students

How does teacher burnout affect students in terms of their education, their emotional wellbeing and their outcomes? Here are the honest truths as to how

1. It can lower student engagement

No matter how skilled a teacher is, if they feel burned out, it will be much harder for them to engage students in learning. After all, how can a teacher make students want to be there, if they themselves don’t want to be there?

Of course everyone (to a degree) would rather be relaxing at home or on vacation rather than at work. I’m not talking about that.

I’m talking about teachers who are dragging themselves in every day, wishing they could be anywhere else.

Even if they’re trying very hard to mask their true feelings (which, hopefully they are – I was) it would be almost impossible for this to not rub off on the students.

2. It may reduce the quality of the instruction and assessment

This isn’t to say that every teacher who is on the verge of burnout is doing a poor job – on the contrary; part of why they’re burned out is probably from overworking.

Even when I was close to burnout, I tried my best. I spent hours after school prepping, marking, and putting together what I thought would be engaging lessons and experiments for my class.

However, I still believe its very hard for a burned out teacher to produce the same quality of work as a teacher who is happy to be there.

Even if our lesson planning and assessments are top-notch, there are so many factors involved with teaching a class full of children that its impossible for some of these tasks to not be impacted by teacher burnout.

3. It can lead to a messy, disorganized classroom

Keeping a classroom organized, neat and functional takes extra work.

I have noticed that teachers who are less engaged and ‘checked out’ are more likely to have a messy classroom because they don’t have the time or energy to put effort into maintaining it.

Some students may be able to tune out the mess, but some students may find it harder to focus or feel calm in a classroom that isn’t organized or functional.

Pro Tip: This doesn’t mean that every teacher with a messy classroom is a burnt out teacher. A messy classroom can happen for lots of reasons, including the teacher’s own organizational style. However, burnt out teachers will undoubtedly find it harder to pour the energy into maintaining their classroom than teachers who are engaged with their role.

4. It reduces the amount of support students can receive

Depending on the age and personality of the students, they often need more than just academic support from their teacher. Elementary school kids confide in their teachers about friend problems, issues at home, and other life things.

Let’s face it – a teacher’s job is more than just teaching. It’s inspiring, motivating, disciplining, guiding and offering support to kids in many areas.

When a teacher is burnt out, they’re lacking the interest and energy even for the most basic tasks. This means students may not be receiving the same support that they would from a teacher.

5. It means inconsistency in staffing

A high teacher burn out rate leads to an increase in teacher absences, and high teacher turnover.

When teachers take a lot of sick (ie: mental health days) or take long-term leaves resulting in someone else needing to step in to fill the role, it creates inconsistency for the kids who have to cope with a lot of different people being in the room.

This is especially hard for younger students, who get attached to their teachers and then have to cope with new faces and routines, sometimes more than once during a school year.

This has implications for the student’s mental health, and their educational outcomes for that school year.

Important note: I want to add that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a teacher taking a sick day, or a stress leave from work if they need one. But, there are consequences for the students when it becomes excessive or longterm

6. Important tasks start to pile up

There are a lot of responsibilities associated with running a classroom. Those who aren’t teachers often have no idea all of the things we need to keep on top of, that can pile up if you’re not staying on top of it.

Here are some of the things that teachers do, aside from lesson planning and marking:

• Scheduling field trips
• Communicating with parents, colleagues and and school guest speakers
• Writing supply plans for a substitute teacher
• Recording data of student assessments
• Maintaining an organized work space (as mentioned above)
• Booking computer labs, and gym slots

When a teacher is burnt out and struggling to hold their head above water, even the most basic tasks of their job (planning, marking and classroom management) can be overwhelming; let alone all the other stuff.

When the teacher is burnt out, more and more tasks associated with their job get put on the back burner, and it becomes harder for them to find the extra energy for those extra things that make school fun and engaging for their students.

7. Problems are not dealt with

There are often issues in classrooms that don’t always pertain to teaching. There could be bullying issues, serious behaviour problems, and students that generally need a lot of support in order to get by.

Behaviour management takes work. Extra support and longterm monitoring to ensure that strategies put in place are working takes quite a bit of energy from the school team.

Teachers that are feeling burnt out may have trouble addressing some of these larger issues that are affecting their classroom and learning environment, and as a result, they go unsolved.

This has negative consequences for the students with challenges, as well as other kids in the class who are impacted by the negative behaviour of other students.

8. It may impact student’s futures

The role of a teacher can be so impactful in a student’s life. It shapes more than just their experiences in school, but sometimes their outlook, their interests and passions, and the paths they choose to take in life.

Successful people like Steven Hawkings, Bill Gates, and George Lucas have all said that they were inspired by a teacher from an early age that set them on the path to where they are now.

Read about other famous and successful professionals who credit teachers for their initial inspiration in their field here.

The saddest thing about teacher burnout is that students miss out on having a teacher that can inspire them the same way they deserve to be inspired.

How to Prevent Teacher Burnout

Many aspects of teacher burnout are sadly, out of our control. Burnout is in the rise in many fields, especially among women and people under 30, according to this article.

There are many ways in which teaching has become a more stressful career than it once was.

Most teachers can agree that student behaviour is getting worse, the workload is heavier, and teachers are often not trusted by parents; who blame them for their children’s poor school results.

In my opinion, reducing teacher burnout will require a huge societal shift. We aren’t going to fix the whole problem overnight.

However, there might be things you can do as a teacher, school administrator, or a parent to support the teachers in your community.

Let’s go through how you can play a small role in supporting teachers to support their students.

How to prevent burnout as a teacher

Teachers can prevent teacher burnout from making sure they look after themselves, draw boundaries and say no when they need to.

✅Do draw healthy boundaries with work.
✅Do talk to a therapist or healthcare professional if you feel like you’re starting to burn out.
✅Do remember that you’re most helpful to the kids when you’re helping yourself first.

❌Don’t push yourself when you’re already running on empty

How to prevent teacher burnout as a principal

Principals can prevent teacher burnout by modelling self care and encouraging teachers to care for themselves and their families first.

Here are a few of the many ways to be a good, effective school principal.

✅Do show your appreciation to your staff for their hard work and contributions to the school. Burnout can often stem from feelings of being under-appreciated.

✅Do allow for students to see that you, the teachers and other school staff are a team that works together. This is apart of empowering teachers.

✅Do encourage parents to discuss concerns with the teacher first, before coming to you.

✅Do try to boost school morale, because it creates a sense of community in the workplace which makes everyone happier to be there

❌Don’t encourage students to confide in you about complaints about their teacher (unless you do really suspect a serious issue.) Students look to you to determine how much respect they should be giving their teachers. If they see that you don’t respect the teachers as professionals, then they won’t either.

Pro Tip: This last tip goes for parents too!

How to prevent teacher burnout as a parent

Parents and members of the public are not directly responsible for teacher burnout.

If you’re a parent, then here are some things you can do to support your child’s teacher (which in turn, supports your child’s education)

✅Do show that you want to work as a team with the teacher to help your child succeed

✅Do ask the teacher how you can help your child improve on a problem at home, (if the teacher reaches out to you about an issues)

✅Do contact the teacher FIRST if you have any concerns (not the principal.) Only go to the principal if issues are unresolved after a few attempts to solve them with the teacher

✅Do thank the teacher for their time, if they spend special time with you or your child. They will likely wave it off, and say they’re happy to, and that its their job. But, a thank you is always appreciated nonetheless

✅Do teach your child to show respect, even to teachers that they may not like. Tell your child that they may not get along with every teacher they meet, but that its important for them to try their best regardless. Then, if you have true concerns – reach out to the teacher to discuss.

❌ Don’t badmouth your child’s teacher in the presence of your child.

How to Support Students Affected by Teacher Burnout

Students who are spending their school year with a teacher who is on the verge of burnout are missing out. I hope that this article has done a good job in outlining all the ways that they may not be getting the quality of education that they deserve.

Parents and guardians can help fill in some of the gabs when a teacher is absent a lot, or struggling to do their job as effectively or passionately.

Here are some ideas on supporting students who are affected by teacher burnout:

• Be there for your child. Your child may not be happy going to school. Talk to them, let them confide in you, and be there for them. They need a listening ear.
  
• Hire a tutor. I have worked as a tutor for years, and can see how they really enhance and enrich a child’s education in certain subjects
  
• Provide educational enrichment. The child’s teacher may have not had any extra energy left for anything especially engaging and enriching, if they were struggling to do their job. Step in and see if you can do something educationally to inspire your kids. Maybe you can take them to a museum, a planetarium

Pro Tip: As a parent or principal, you may not know for a fact that a teacher is burned out or close to it, because teachers will try to hide it as best they can. The biggest clue that the teacher is burned out is if they take a lot of time off, or go off on an unexplained leave. This is a good time to step in to support the kids.

The Effects of Teacher Burnout on Students FAQ

Here are some of the commonly asked questions about teacher stress and burnout and the impact it has on students

What are the negative effects of teacher burnout?

Teacher burnout can cause the teacher to be less engaged with work and to dread going to work, which means that the students may be missing out on being motivated, engaged, and receiving the guidance and support from their teacher that they may need.

How does teacher stress affect students?

Teacher stress can lead to burnout, which affects students in a number of ways. They miss out on the same quality of education that they could have from a teacher who is happy in their role, they may receive less support, inspiration and guidance than they would have otherwise.

How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?

When a teacher is already on the verge of burnout, its very hard for them to program for students in an individualized way, and offer support the way some students may need.

Final Thoughts: How Does Teacher Burnout Affect Students?

If you’ve gotten this far, then I hope that I’ve adequately answered your questions about how teacher burnout affects students. I want the best for teachers, students and education.

Even though I left the classroom, the cause for quality education for future generations remains something that is important to me.

Teacher burnout has negative effects on the teacher and their families (especially if they have dependents.) It also has negative effects on the students who need and deserve a teacher who is engaged in their job and wants to be there.

While teacher burnout can’t be solved by any one person, we can do our part to show them that their jobs are worthwhile, important and that we appreciate their efforts.