Teacher Burnout: A Wicked Problem: Annotated Bibliography
Anne Heinicke, Jess Fleis, Mary Verberg, Victoria L. Wellman-Teeple
Department of Education, Michigan State University
MAET Overseas Summer
July 21, 2022
Jotkoff, E. (2022). NEA Survey: Massive staff shortages in schools leading to educator burnout. National Education Association. https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-survey-massive-staff-shortages-schools-leading-educator
Survey representing nearly 3 million educators
55% of educators are now indicating that they are ready to leave the profession they love earlier than planned
“But, as our new survey shows, after persevering through the hardest school years in memory, America’s educators are exhausted and increasingly burned out”
“The crisis is preventing educators from giving their students the one-on-one attention they need. It is forcing them to give up their class planning and lunch time to fill in for colleagues who are out due to COVID. And, it is preventing students from getting the mental health supports needed”
There are currently 567,000 fewer educators in America’s public schools today than before the pandemic.
Three fourths of teachers said they had to fill in for colleagues to take other duties due to staff shortages
80% of members report that unfilled job openings have led to more work obligations for the educators who remain
90% of members say feeling burned out is a serious problem. Of that 90%, 67% state that it is a VERY serious problem.
91% of educators say that pandemic-related stress is a serious problem for educators.
More than half (55%) of members plan to leave earlier than planned, a 37% increase from August 2022
Higher among Black (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (59%)
Tye, B. B., & O’Brien, L. (2002). Why Are Experienced Teachers Leaving the Profession? The Phi Delta Kappan, 84(1), 24–32.
In a study conducted by the authors, they found that the number-one reason why teachers had already left or were leaving was because of the pressures of increased accountability, like high stakes testing, test preparation, and standards.
This was followed closely by increased paperwork, changing student characteristics, negativity and pressure from parents and the community and tension between teachers and administration.
A study by the National Association of Secondary School Principals cited that “nearly one fifth of a teacher’s day, and his energy and ingenuity – is spent at jobs which could be performed by non professionals or by automated devices.”
“Students who are uninterested in learning are a formidable challenge and perhaps the greatest disappointment for all teachers. In our study, people who left teaching after five or more years in the classroom ranked student behavior and attitudes a close third after the pressures of standards and high stakes testing and mountains of paperwork”
Many students are “malnourished, tired, emotional upset from lack of care”
“Lack of administration support was ranked fifth by those who had left the profession and by those who were still teaching”
Jotkoff, E. (2022). NEA Survey: Massive staff shortages in schools leading to educator burnout. National Education Association. https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-survey-massive-staff-shortages-schools-leading-educator
Raising educator salaries receives the strongest support (96% support, 81% strongly support)
Providing additional mental health support for students (94% support)
Hiring more teachers (93% support)
Hiring more support staff (92%)
Less paperwork (90%)
We saw teacher shortages before the pandemic, but well into our second and third year in a post-pandemic world, we have a shortage of not only teachers, but support staff and administrative staff. These shortages contribute to strained available resources that directly impact teacher job satisfaction and retention.
Harrell, Pamela & Leavell, Alexandra & Member, Committee & Tassell, Francis & Forney, Scott & Coordinator, Program & Stansell, John & Chair, & Mckee, Kerry. (2004). A STUDY OF FACTORS RELATED TO TEACHER RETENTION. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228595468_A_STUDY_OF_FACTORS_RELATED_TO_TEACHER_RETENTION
"Without a thorough understanding of the factors that contribute to teacher attrition it is impossible to create an environment where 'No Child is Left Behind'."
In the first five years of teaching, almost half of teachers leave the profession.
“While researchers linked different affective and non-affective factors to job satisfaction, they all related satisfaction and teacher retention on some level”:
Of the many resources McKee cited, the definitions of “job satisfaction” (pp. 13-15) were very much tied to being “human and affective in nature”, and that job satisfaction can be an early litmus test to predict retention rates.
Factors that contribute to, or detract from, job satisfaction (and later retention) vary widely along demographic, experience, and occupational lines but the most common factors were: the amount of administrative/leader support provided, pay and benefits, learning community support, class-sizes, and resources.
Overall, focusing on job satisfaction with the school environment and community and how to improve those factors would have the most meaningful impact on teacher retention rates.
Fahed-Sreih, J. (Ed.). (2020). Career development and job satisfaction. IntechOpen. https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/books/9033/authors_book/authors_book.pdf
I already inserted this graphic to the poster, it shows differences in trait values between generations. I think to have a fair scope of what job satisfaction would look like we need to consider how the generational cohorts that people identify with value things differently, and where compromises could be reached. (p. 48)
This resource feels a little more disjointed from the other resources in this particular section and if it doesn’t make sense to keep it we can take out the graphic and blurb but I did add to the notes for the NEA survey and highlighted the areas that seemed most cohesive with the other ideas in our poster. Those stats and percentages say a lot more for what can be done to improve teacher retention (and job satisfaction) because it comes from teachers somewhat more directly.
Solutions:
The top answer to teacher job satisfaction, and many other professions in education, is to raise their pay and benefits.
Directing funding to higher teacher salaries, fringe benefits, mental health and wellness, and organizing support personnel should be the key foci in improving teacher job satisfaction.
Mental health support and services for educational professionals, as well as their students, would have a significant impact on decreasing the negative factors contributing to job dissatisfaction.
Perhaps one of the best ways that we could improve teacher job satisfaction, in addition to paying them the thriving wages they deserve, is to change how we evaluate and define what a “successful teacher” is.
We could taper down and phase out standardized testing; and end the practice of maligning bad test scores to bad teaching.
Since we are preparing a substantial amount of young learners for careers that likely don’t even exist yet. If we focus less on telling them what “good jobs” are and more on cultivating their talents and passions they could carve out their own paths and pioneer new mindsets, maybe even solve some of the wicked problems that antiquated mindsets have proliferated. If students have their basic needs met with physical and mental health, food security, and shelter, their teachers could reclaim some of their energy and time that goes into handling behavior issues that stem from those unmet needs.
Madigan, Daniel J., and Lisa E. Kim. ‘Does Teacher Burnout Affect Students? A
Systematic Review of Its Association with Academic Achievement and
Student-Reported Outcomes’. International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 105, Jan. 2021, p. 101714. ScienceDirect,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101714.
“The findings provided some evidence that teacher burnout is associated with worse academic achievement and lower quality student motivation”
“The Prosocial Classroom Model is perhaps the most relevant to the present study (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). This theory proposes that teacher wellbeing and socioemotional functioning influence the capacity of teachers to effectively lead educational instruction and manage classroom behaviors. These factors will in turn affect student outcomes such as performance and motivation.”
When teachers are feeling burnout, they are more likely to have negative interactions with students, be easily annoyed by students, and have “negative views” of their students
All of this will affect how the students perform
“Emotional exhaustion and cynicism will lead to less involvement and effort in lesson planning and less favorable social behavior towards students.” “Emotional exhaustion and cynicism will also result in teachers being more critical and providing lower levels of encouragement in response to student success.”
“In turn, students may feel less competent and be less likely to internalize intrinsic motives for studying, collectively reducing the capacity and depth of their learning (and subsequent motivation and achievement). It is also possible that the distance that burnout creates between students and their teacher will have consequences for students’ sense of belonging, relatedness, and wellbeing.”
Another way students are affected by teacher burnout “is via a contagion effect, whereby burnout passes from teachers to their students”
“This includes reduced achievement (Madigan & Curran, 2020), increased forms of controlled motivation (Zhang, Klassen, & Wang, 2013), and increased depression (IsHak et al., 2013). This possibility also provides an explanation for how teachers can indirectly influence the wellbeing of their students. It is therefore possible that contagion effects could compound the direct effects of burnout from teachers’ behaviors.”
“The findings suggest that teacher burnout has the potential to inhibit students’ achievement and motivation. Accordingly, in addition to the consequences of burnout for teachers themselves, preventing and reducing teacher burnout is likely to be relevant to providing students with quality educational instruction and support.”
Laurie, Robert, et al. ‘How Does Teacher Stress and Burnout Impact Student Achievement?’ EdCan Network, https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teacher-stress-and-student-achievement/. Accessed 18 July 2022.
This is actually based off of a digital poster.
How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?
Reduced motivation and achievement: Teacher burnout and depersonalization (i.e. feelings of disinterest towards one’s job) negatively impacts teaching quality and student motivation (e.g. disruptive behavior, low sense of belonging, weak belief in ability to succeed, lower grades).
Higher stress levels: Higher levels of teacher burnout is linked to higher cortisol levels in children, which is a biological indicator of stress.
Wang, Zhiping. ‘The Effect of EFL Teacher Apprehension and Teacher Burnout on Learners’ Academic Achievement’. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2022. Frontiers, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.839452.
“Apprehended teachers do not have an appropriate relationship with learners. Therefore, learners’ engagement and enjoyment are affected by teacher apprehension (Wentzel, 2010). Continuous apprehension and stress of teachers lead to teacher burnout which may affect their performance negatively”
“In a study, Madigan and Kim (2020) found out that teacher burnout is significantly correlated with poorer educational success and less motivation.”
“They also asserted that teacher burnout can be a reason for poor academic performance. Moreover, Klusmann et al. (2008) mentioned that teacher burnout, described by disengagement and low levels of resilience, results in EFL learners’ poor performance in language learning.”
“Teachers who suffer from burnout have negative attitudes toward themselves which may affect their performance and learners’ academic achievements. Overall, the… studies showed that teacher burnout provides less encouraging language teaching context to the learners, which can bring about low levels of academic achievement among them.”
“Emotional stress disturbs the information-transmission instruction approach…Teacher apprehension influences their job performance and causes a significant gap between themselves and learners and it decreases personal accomplishments” “ language anxiety can negatively affect learners’ achievement.”