Strategies for Mitigating Teacher Burnout: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Teacher burnout is one of the most challenging problems that modern educators face worldwide. The decease of well-being, lack of job satisfaction, and the drop in student outcomes represent the three most dangerous results of burnout for teachers. In the present review, the researcher attempts to summarize the thoughts on the root causes, effects, and prevention of teacher burnout through several research publications in the field. Based on selected empirical studies, the researcher concludes that teacher burnout is caused by the high workload of assignments, inadequate professional support, and difficult student behaviors. Moreover, teacher burnout brings such feelings as emotional tiredness, depersonalization, and loss of the sense of achievement. The suggested easing strategies include both organizational measures and individually focused activities. The organizational efforts, such as an easing in the work schedule, mental health programs, and teaching experience programs, ease the high risk of burnout. Developing teachers’ resilience via professional programs that focus on emotional management helps teachers to control stress and emotional expressions professionally. Other solutions, such as mental health professional programs or intervention programs based on the knowledge of the mindfulness exercise, are promising. The only individual activity that is mainly effective in reducing the risk of teacher burnout is collaboration and peer networks. To the best of my knowledge, the mechanism-based studies to explain why some of these activities are particularly helpful are rare. Therefore, further research is necessarily needed in the field.