The pressures upon teachers
Drawing from our experiences as former educators, we can confirm that being a teacher presents various difficulties. The demanding schedule, substantial workload, and the weight of moulding young minds can impact one's mental and physical well-being. Although teaching is undoubtedly fulfilling, it necessitates resilience and self-care. Regrettably, teacher burnout is on the rise worldwide and warrants attention as a pressing issue.
Burnout is a psychological state that can develop when ongoing job stressors begin to take a toll.1 In the case of educators, this gradual accumulation of negative emotions can lead to feelings of inadequacy, exhaustion, and disconnection from one's work, ultimately resulting in absenteeism, early retirement, and attrition.
Stress and compassion fatigue
In addition to burnout, two other conditions are increasingly being acknowledged as concerns for teachers: secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. Secondary traumatic stress arises when an individual experiences stress due to a strong empathetic response to a traumatic event experienced by someone else. 2 Meanwhile, compassion fatigue involves a reduced capacity for empathy and interest in individuals who have undergone trauma and is often seen in people working in emotionally challenging environments.3 While both secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue have been well-established in healthcare and mental health fields, they have only recently been explored in the context of teaching.