Teachers are regarded as some of the most influential people in a child’s life, and every May, during Teacher Appreciation Month, we shower them with coffee gift cards and mugs and our notes of thanks.
Adele shook the internet in 2021 when she was publicly reunited with her former English teacher, Ms. McDonald, whom she credited with developing her love for literature, significantly impacting her journey to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated singers and writers. As a former teacher, I can admit that acknowledgement feels wonderful, and yet the increasing day-to-day challenges of being a teacher continues to threaten the future of the profession. Year after year, the same truth holds: Being an educator comes with high expectations, long hours and pay that seldom matches the workload.
A 2023 RAND survey indicated that 58% of educators felt overly stressed. Despite a significant decrease from data collected during the pandemic, the fact that more than half of educators indicated high stress levels is still concerning. A glance at a couple of other key findings from the American Teacher Survey:
- 23% of teachers said they were likely to leave their job at their school by the end of the 2022-23 school year.
- 26% of teachers reported that they sometimes or often feared for their physical safety at school.
The landscape of educator wellness needs a profound shift to secure the future of education. While classroom management, teaching strategies and content mastery are critical, physical and mental health are equally significant. Encouraging educators to seek therapy and providing self-regulating strategies are steps in the right direction. However, the real transformation lies in embedding wellness into the regular educational culture.
This is not just a school’s responsibility; it’s a fundamental practice that community stakeholders and parents should also uphold. By reshaping perspectives about the role of an educator, we can prioritize teacher wellness and pave the way for a brighter future for education.
Understanding teacher burnout
In 2022, EdWeek released a study that indicated that educators work nearly 60 hours per week, with less than half of those hours dedicated to actual instruction. Instead, most of the time is spent grading papers during evenings and weekends or contacting parents to address student needs and concerns.
“I have a family. I have children. I have a husband. I have friends. And sometimes, I seem frustrated with them, but I’m really just tired from grading papers, making lesson plans, calling parents and worrying about students,” says Alicia Bester, a fifth-year teacher who is also a mother and wife.
The pressure on educators to hyper-perform to meet the expectations of parents and the deadlines set by school leaders frequently leads to long work hours, which results in personal negligence, poor work-life balance and the threat of teacher burnout.
Reconsidering communication strategies, showing patience and grace and respecting teachers’ boundaries outside work hours are essential ways to create space for rest and rejuvenation.
Mental health, wellness training as professional development
Studying testing strategies and classroom management techniques can help teachers improve their students’ academic performance. But there is often no place to turn for educators who find themselves on the cusp of burnout or suffering through personal matters.
The fear of negative impacts on future opportunities make many educators hesitant to seek help. There is a gap between instruction-based professional development and educator wellness-centered professional development. In 2022, an EdWeek research survey collected data on mental and wellness support from 900 educators. Only one-third indicated that their schools or districts had provided any type of training or resources since the pandemic.
Such staggering data suggests that educator mental health and wellness are still not considered a priority. However, leaders who create space for wellness conversations and provide support can change schools and the nature of education, leading to increased retention and improved student performance.
Moving beyond Teacher Appreciation Month
Complimentary lunches and gift certificates are great for Teacher Appreciation Month, but these well-meaning gifts lack effectiveness in establishing an ongoing wellness practice.
Cultivating a school climate where educator wellness is a priority means that the work is visible and ongoing. Creating a safe space for educators to learn about health and wellness practices and address feelings of burnout, anxiety and stress can potentially reduce turnover and improve the quality of teaching and learning.
Integrating wellness days, collaborating across districts to make policy changes and strengthening positive relationships between parents and teachers to improve overall school climate support the best interests of both students and teachers.
When teachers are physically and emotionally well, they are empowered to provide rigorous instruction and a more supportive and robust learning environment.
Being a teacher requires self-sacrifice and, quite often, such sacrifices are overlooked or viewed as “what a good teacher should do.” Thus, many teachers suffer in silence when they feel burned out, overwhelmed, undervalued and unsupported. However, we can no longer use luncheons and “Best Teacher Ever” mugs to demonstrate the value of an educator.
How we can improve teacher retention and wellness
Federal policy changes in 2025 are poised to fundamentally reshape American education and may force schools nationwide to adapt to a new era of decentralized control and uncertain resources. At the same time, new executive orders are targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and other programs, and all the changes (and talks of changes) add more weight to teachers’ already heavy shoulders.
Therapist and former school social worker Alexis Young says, “The demands of school and the climate have changed too much for us to continue the same practices. Education leaders must seriously reconsider how they prioritize educators’ mental and physical health. Stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart disease and other health issues are just too prevalent. But we can change that and show teachers we care about them, too.”
To show the value of an educator, leaders must ensure teachers are equipped with the resourcesneeded to sustain and thrive in schools and classrooms. And parents can press school and district leaders to support teachers in these meaningful ways.
Each year, school social worker Carolyn Carter leads training on student mental health and tries to emphasize the importance of educator mental wellness. “My job is to work with students and parents, but often teachers also need a safe space to talk with someone they can trust,” she says. “As educators, we are required to do more and more to nurture students, but who is nurturing educators?”
School districts must embed wellness into the daily fabric of the profession. Creating space for flexible planning time, access to mental health services, protected breaks and school policies that guard against burnout can reshape education for students and teachers alike.
Healthy teachers build healthier communities. When educators thrive, so do students — and so does the prospect of a brighter future.
Jamie Mayes is an author, former classroom teacher and founder of Jamie Mayes Educational Consulting & Literacy Services.
