Causes of burnout in teachers

Educators and teachers are exposed to compared with many other occupational groups and suspected in more than average health burdens. The emotional exhaustion (burnout) plays a special role.

Educators belong to a health professional group which are highly loaded. Studies show that they are especially often affected in addition to physical illnesses such as, headaches and back pain and frequent infections of mental illness. Despite initial enthusiasm for the profession to report many educators after a few years of congestion, restlessness and irritability, sometimes even of mental exhaustion. This is related to the varied stresses of work, but also with structural conditions in the facilities.

For a study on the health burden of educators 1217 educators were interviewed. Being physically stressful proven especially the often unfavorable posture while playing or crafting with children. Thus, the lifting and carrying often leads to back pain and tension. As psychological stress factors lack of opportunities to relax and retreat were given from many educators. 92 percent of respondents said that the amount of different tasks such as childcare, educational and administrative tasks is too high.

77 percent of educators said that too many children are in a group. Thus was partly hardly possible to work effectively with individual children. Another source of stress is the noise for more than 50 percent of respondents. A study showed that an average sound level of 80 decibels prevails in kindergarten. These are values that carry the risk of noise-induced hearing loss and represent above all a great psychological burden. The problem for educators are also the emotional stress on work. The educators must adapt in particularly their feelings to the work requirements. Different moods and feelings of frustration, anger or overwork can not be shown. Instead, a positive mood is always possible to spread.

Mental overwork can lead to burnout.

Many respondents stated that they suffer from psychosomatic complaints. At the forefront are headache followed by easy fatigability, back and neck pain. About ten percent of the teachers reported about symptoms of burnout. Burnout refers to a state of exhaustion, a total “burned out”. This entails frequent feeling of being overwhelmed, dejection and loss of sense. According to the criteria burnout by itself is not a medical diagnosis, but a condition that can lead to other diseases such as depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol abuse and hypertension.

Even stronger than educators teachers seem to be threatened by burnout. In a large study of more than 16,000 teachers found that 60 percent of teachers includes to “psychological risk group”, and have tendencies toward utter emotional exhaustion. The main reasons for the excessive demands are, according to the teachers, the displeasure and aggressiveness of students, to high expectations of parents and the sizes of the classes.But also growing bureaucracy cause regulatory burdens. As a result, many teachers tend to completely quit without being able to recover sufficiently.

But there are also positive results of studies. So was particularly among educators, despite the high loads a high degree of satisfaction with their own profession. In particular the autonomy and diversity of the work requirement were mentioned as positive. To better management with sources of stress, it is especially important for educators and teachers to continue to provide the necessary relaxation. Here, for example, meditation, autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation can help (PMR). Also methods such as yoga, tai chi or other Far Eastern relaxation techniques are useful. In addition, a healthy diet can help to better cope with the daily challenges. Because of special burdens educators should increasingly pay attention to their physical and mental health.