How professional coaching can prevent teacher burnout

There’s a growing crisis in the field of education. Nine out of ten teachers say they’ve experienced burnout, blaming their heavy workload and a lack of support.

When teachers experience burnout, many head for the door. In fact, two-thirds of teachers say they’ve considered leaving the profession over the past year, and another third wouldn’t recommend a career in education.

Despite these challenges, teachers say they still love their jobs, they just lack the time and the resources to perform well and protect their wellbeing.

Professional coaching can provide part of the solution, especially for newly qualified teachers. Structured conversations can help teachers find solutions to the issues they face inside and outside the classroom, as well as develop important skills.

Let’s look in more detail at how coaching can provide a form of proactive support and alleviate teacher burnout.

The reality of early career teacher burnout

Newly qualified teachers can be more susceptible to burnout than their peers. They may have completed their training, but they haven’t yet put their knowledge into practice or developed all the skills they need to carry out tasks efficiently. While they’re still familiarising themselves with their new role and learning on the job, they’ll inevitably take longer to perform all their duties.

Faced with this extra pressure, newly qualified staff are more vulnerable to mental and emotional exhaustion. These symptoms of teacher burnout may build over the school year as they struggle to find respite.

Some teachers may also find there’s a gap between their training and the realities of the classroom. Many are surprised by the volume of work, the stress of managing student discipline and how overstimulating the school environment can be. This ‘practice shock’ leaves them at a higher risk of burnout.

When burnout is unaddressed, many educators leave the profession within their first five years. The result is that there’s a global teacher shortage with attrition rates almost doubling over the past decade. Schools can’t maintain high standards of education when so many roles go unfilled, and the shortage begins to negatively impact student learning and achievement.

What is professional coaching for teachers?

Experts have discussed many solutions to address the teacher burnout crisis, including higher pay and better working conditions. At the same time, coaching can be a way to provide teachers with crucial support and skills that significantly lowers burnout rates.

Schools must enlist external experts to run the coaching sessions where teachers get tailored guidance about burnout. These sessions might include:

• Building awareness and early recognition about what burnout is
• Practical boundary-setting strategies
• Workshops about workload management and prioritisation
• Reconnecting teachers with their purpose
• Building sustainable self-care practices
• Advice to navigate difficult relationships
• Creating support systems

These sessions have to be regular – not one-off interventions or sporadic reviews – so coaches and teachers have the opportunity to build deep relationships.

Schools must also take care to differentiate coaching from mentorship. Professional coaching doesn’t involve evaluating teachers’ abilities and providing feedback, as mentorship programmes often do. It’s more focused on practical techniques to avoid burnout as a teacher and developing resilience and tools in difficult scenarios.

The benefits of professional coaching

Coaching can have a powerful impact on burnout levels. Implemented well, it helps newly qualified teachers acclimate to their role faster, recognise and build on skills they developed during training, and apply those skills more effectively in the classroom.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, new teachers know how to manage scenarios that lead to burnout like disruptive students or parents with unrealistic expectations. As they overcome these early hurdles, they gain a sense of achievement and quickly overcome any practice shock.

Regular coaching also helps seasoned teachers become more effective at their regular tasks, leaving them feeling less mentally and emotionally drained. Teachers can then find it easier to explore new growth opportunities at their school and feel more fulfilled in their career.

Perhaps most importantly, coaching enables all teachers to self-reflect more easily. They see how to deal with challenges and streamline their work, and how to align their teaching practice with their personal values. These reflections can lead to an increased sense of purpose and deeper satisfaction that prevents burnout.

How to implement professional coaching for teachers

For coaching to have a meaningful impact, schools must implement it with intention and have a system for measuring progress. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Start with a pilot programme: Begin with a small group of willing participants so you can see how to incorporate coaching into your school before scaling it.
2. Schedule frequent sessions: Set meetings once a fortnight for 45 minutes. Sessions should be short to ensure they don’t add to teachers’ workload, but regular enough to establish momentum.
3. Protect coaching time: Check that none of your teachers’ other tasks interfere with sessions. If there’s a clash, reallocate work rather than trying to fit everything into teachers’ timetables.
4. Communicate clearly: Tell teachers what they can expect from the professional coaching. Share the reason for the sessions, what they should entail, and what results you’re hoping for.
5. Track and measure progress: Conduct anonymous surveys at intervals to see how teachers are responding to coaching sessions. Also check more objective metrics like attendance rates, performance reviews and retention.

Coaching for healthier, happier learning

Professional coaching alone won’t solve the teacher burnout crisis. The problem is systemic and affects schools at multiple levels across different countries and cultures. However, coaching can be part of a wider strategy to improve teacher wellbeing, reduce turnover and maintain education standards.

When conducted properly, coaching can help teachers and schools develop skills and habits that not only sustain them through long, happy careers – it makes for healthier staff and learning experiences.

Further reading

Looking for more resources for educators? Read SMART goals for your first year of teaching and How to boost staff confidence before a school inspection.