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I haven't read the posts up until mine b/c there were just so many to read through... However, I think that part of the problem with "burnout" is that it is labeled "burnout" when, in fact, it is something entirely different.
"Burnout" is used by other teachers and administrators to negatively label people who refuse to be part of a seriously flawed system. And rather than taking responsibility or having the blame fall on their shoulders, administrators and other faculty place the responsibility for a teacher's exit on the teacher. That way, nothing changes (we all know how much people hate change, especially those who are benefiting from having things a certain way.)
A lot of people use the term to discredit teachers who recognize that the system is not working in the best interest of education. Most teachers have tons of energy. But would you go to a job every day where every one in the building--including the students--has more rights than you do? Where you are expected to essentially be a doormat who just sits there and takes whatever administrators, parents or students dish out? And where you are expected to do all of this while making a sub-standard wage?
IMHO, teachers who decide not to stay in those kinds of environments are not doing so b/c of "burnout"; they're leaving b/c of self-respect.
I will miss being in school once I'm back in engineering but I will not miss working without the resources I need or the low pay, which are the reasons I'm leaving. I just can't work in a situation where my pay is, rediculously, low AND I have no choice but to spend my own money in the classroom to do my job. My family deserves better than this.
I'll miss the kids. I'll miss doing demos and experiements. I'll even miss coming up with lesson plans (I won't miss grading papers ).
There's a difference, though, between picking up your toys and leaving and burning out. Burnt out individuals, by and large, don't leave.
And one year of teaching isn't long enough to work up to burn-out. A lot of people can't hack the job after their first year (according to one article, half leave within five years Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years - washingtonpost.com), but it's not burn out which is the problem.
"Burnout" is used by other teachers and administrators to negatively label people who refuse to be part of a seriously flawed system. And rather than taking responsibility or having the blame fall on their shoulders, administrators and other faculty place the responsibility for a teacher's exit on the teacher. That way, nothing changes (we all know how much people hate change, especially those who are benefiting from having things a certain way.)
A lot of people use the term to discredit teachers who recognize that the system is not working in the best interest of education. Most teachers have tons of energy. But would you go to a job every day where every one in the building--including the students--has more rights than you do? Where you are expected to essentially be a doormat who just sits there and takes whatever administrators, parents or students dish out? And where you are expected to do all of this while making a sub-standard wage?
IMHO, teachers who decide not to stay in those kinds of environments are not doing so b/c of "burnout"; they're leaving b/c of self-respect.
Mmmm...okay. That wasn't actually the definition I was thinking of.
When someone reaches the point at which s/he is just there to collect a paycheck/mark time until retirement, no longer really cares, is just "mailing it in"...that's my definition of burnout.
As one acquaintance (who was still working long past when she should have gone to work in that flower shop) put it: "If they're all still alive when I give 'em back, it's a good day".
That's burnout.
When you mean that statement literally, that's crispy.
Can't hack the job? Sorry, but I can't agree with that. A lot of it really has to do with not putting up with very poor work conditions rather than not being able to do the job. Again, the emphasis is put on the teacher who leaves and how he/she couldn't do the job rather than the poor working conditions that cause so many teachers to leave, especially after their first year. And their is definitely something wrong with a system that has such a high failure rate among [new] teachers. It would be one thing if it were only a few, but that clearly is not the case.
Re: the definition of burnout--Your definition of burnout is what I would call "apathetic," which is what most high school teachers are (as well as really cynical), but that isn't how I would define burnout. So, I went to an independent source:
Thus, teachers who are not apathetic ("whatever") are labeled as "burntout." You're essentially supposed to take whatever happens to you goodnaturedly b/c if you don't--and you show any kind of emotion or resistance--you are labeled as stressed or "burntout." This system encourages teachers to be completely passive and submissive (just like their students.) And if a teacher refuses to allow him/her self to be treated that way, they are negatively labeled.
This system encourages teachers to be completely passive and submissive (just like their students.) And if a teacher refuses to allow him/her self to be treated that way, they are negatively labeled.
Guess what? The system encourages employees in most jobs to be passive/submissive vis-a-vis benefits, pay, and working conditions. The flip side of that is that, as humans, most of us have a drive to achieve and acquire more: more pay, more vacation time, more seniority, more of whatever signifies power in that particular venue. It's a struggle which is inherent in any working-for-pay scenario, be it teaching, McDonald's, or the US Senate. It's all about the power, bay-bee.
You can stay and struggle to rise in the pecking order, you can stay and look for a niche where you're happy, you can stay and make everybody around you miserable (which is where the term "burnout" gets flung), or you can pick up your toys and leave. Aside from your own circle of influence, mostly nobody cares either way.
I mean, we can make this a Working Man's Struggle and shout "up the proletariat!" until the cows come home, but it won't accomplish much.
I did 36 plus years as a teacher and administrator and my wife over 37 as a special education teacher. I understand the hours and I understand the time OFF. I also have sons who work very long hours in professional jobs and have relatives and neighbors who do also. I also understand that teaching occurs often in communities and not downtown. I also understand that teaching hours in the building afford teachers in metropolitan areas to duck the major commute traffic. When you factor in commute times it can become a great equalizer in many communties etc etc etc. Please don't think folks in the private sector are reading this about working 42 weeks a year and not subtracting it from 52 and coming up with a solid 2 months off. Also I don't think they equate working at home with working on the clock and under the watchful eye of the boss. We as educators are evaluated on the time in the building not out of the building. The work done outside of the building complements the work done in the building but is not formally evaluated. What the public so often knows is that when they get home from work ( remember commute time) their teacher neighbor is already home and has mowed their lawn if they wanted to.
It sounds as if you are arguing against what I posted, when I actually was supporting the point of all the hours teachers spend working....I'm confused.
I have worked in fields other than teaching and was never expected to tolerate being treated with such a lack of respect as I was in teaching. You really can't compare teaching to every other profession b/c it isn't the same. There is a reason why more first-year teachers leave the teaching profession than, say, lawyers leave the legal profession.
That's really all I have to say. Either you get it or you don't, either you are sensitive to it or you are not. I think that respect in any profession is a minimum, whether you are a new or senior member of an institution, and that it is ridiculous to think that someone would willingly stay in a position where they are being treated horribly b/c he or she is "the new guy/gal." Professions are not frats or sororities where some form of hazing is an expected part of initiation, nor should anyone be made to feel that they are being unreasonable or "proletariat" b/c they expect or demand good working conditions.
MOST stop going to school at 18 and a FEW more continue on until they are 22?????? What country do you live in?
Going to school as a kid to learn and teaching school as a paid state worker are two different things.
Teacher "burn out" is just an excuse for those with tenure to suck at their
jobs and get away with it.
Most people stop going to school at age 18...hence why the majority of people only have a HS Diploma. That doesn't mean they stop learning (job training, internships, non degree vocational training...) This is not school, but it is still learning. It not being school is not a "bad" or "good" thing, it is what it is.
With that said, the reason why teachers burn out is because they are faced with the realities of the modern education system which forces many teachers to be policeman, administrator, and teacher rolled in one. Given that the many teachers come out with tens of thousands of dollars in debt and getting a relatively low salary at the start (can make a good living...15-20 years in as a teacher) there is a large amount of stress. As a teacher, you the first person that both students and parents address for almost anything (from grades to school policy). You end up spending more time doing other things besides teaching. This causes burn out.
I strongly suggest that anyone who wants to understand the hours the teachers in their community work should perform the following test. While not 100% accurate it will provide great insight. I call it the parking lot test. Drive by your local school especially elementary and middle school or any of them on weekends and see how many cars are in the parking lot. Try 1/2 hour after the work day and 1 hour after the work day. Make sure there are no community or after school activities taking place. High schools are difficult ot measure because of sports etc. If you see a lot of cars then you can assume teachers are still there working. Very few cars oh well you know about your local community at least. Weekends the same test. Doesn't tell you if they are at home working or taking classes but it does tell you if they are still at school doing it.
I have to respectfully disagree about the accuracy of that test (at least in my case anyway). In my area, I live a stone's throw from the school. I walk the parking lot as my daily exercise. On school days, the parking lot isn't clear until at least an hour after school (with the exception of the ed techs who are allowed to leave when the children do). School has been out since June 17th. The parking lot still has cars in it near-daily. The teachers are working on organizing their rooms in addition to preparing for fall classes. This is a typical year. Toward August, the parking lot will be clearer. Maybe it's just because we are fairly small and rural, I don't know.
One of the biggest arguments in the town council is the size of the parking lot and the amount of cars in it. Can they cut back? I'm sure they could somewhere, but what they also fail to take into account is the fact that there is a high volume of parent volunteers. Many of those cars belong to them. Not once have I seen any of the biggest gripers step foot into that school. As far as the ed techs are concerned, there are many - mainly because they are needed as one-on-one educators with streamlined students. We can't have our cake and eat it too with regard to that. If the prevailing feeling is that children who are considered "Special Ed" are to be streamlined into the regular classrooms, then they must have someone to work with them to either control behavior, or help them learn. I have volunteered and substituted to be an ed tech. The primary teacher in the classroom cannot be taken from the loop of teaching to constantly redirect one child to the exclusion of the others in the class IMO. That may also play a factor in burnout for teachers, I'll leave that for actual teachers to discuss.
IMHO, the only way to accurately assess what goes on in a school is to volunteer in one - preferably in the lower grades where the children require more direction and redirection. Then, following a fairly lenthy stint of that, if one still feels that their school isn't doing what's required and/or if they still feel that their teachers aren't investing the time needed, then absolutely can they feel free to express their disdain. That's only simple fairness.
I have to respectfully disagree about the accuracy of that test (at least in my case anyway). In my area, I live a stone's throw from the school. I walk the parking lot as my daily exercise. On school days, the parking lot isn't clear until at least an hour after school (with the exception of the ed techs who are allowed to leave when the children do). School has been out since June 17th. The parking lot still has cars in it near-daily. The teachers are working on organizing their rooms in addition to preparing for fall classes. This is a typical year. Toward August, the parking lot will be clearer. Maybe it's just because we are fairly small and rural, I don't know.
One of the biggest arguments in the town council is the size of the parking lot and the amount of cars in it. Can they cut back? I'm sure they could somewhere, but what they also fail to take into account is the fact that there is a high volume of parent volunteers. Many of those cars belong to them. Not once have I seen any of the biggest gripers step foot into that school. As far as the ed techs are concerned, there are many - mainly because they are needed as one-on-one educators with streamlined students. We can't have our cake and eat it too with regard to that. If the prevailing feeling is that children who are considered "Special Ed" are to be streamlined into the regular classrooms, then they must have someone to work with them to either control behavior, or help them learn. I have volunteered and substituted to be an ed tech. The primary teacher in the classroom cannot be taken from the loop of teaching to constantly redirect one child to the exclusion of the others in the class IMO. That may also play a factor in burnout for teachers, I'll leave that for actual teachers to discuss.
IMHO, the only way to accurately assess what goes on in a school is to volunteer in one - preferably in the lower grades where the children require more direction and redirection. Then, following a fairly lenthy stint of that, if one still feels that their school isn't doing what's required and/or if they still feel that their teachers aren't investing the time needed, then absolutely can they feel free to express their disdain. That's only simple fairness.
To make the exercise more accurate, volunteer to grade papers for a teacher for a month too. You'll gain great insight while making the teachers day (or month in this case).
I stay at school for an hour on a regular basis but I still take 2-3 hours of work home with me each night and do five times that on the weekends. The hours my car is in the parking lot don't reflect the hours I work. I wish they did. My husband complains he didn't see me from August through June.
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I will miss being in school once I'm back in engineering but I will not miss working without the resources I need or the low pay, which are the reasons I'm leaving. I just can't work in a situation where my pay is, rediculously, low AND I have no choice but to spend my own money in the classroom to do my job. My family deserves better than this. 
).
In my area, I live a stone's throw from the school. I walk the parking lot as my daily exercise. On school days, the parking lot isn't clear until at least an hour after school (with the exception of the ed techs who are allowed to leave when the children do). School has been out since June 17th. The parking lot still has cars in it near-daily. The teachers are working on organizing their rooms in addition to preparing for fall classes. This is a typical year. Toward August, the parking lot will be clearer. Maybe it's just because we are fairly small and rural, I don't know. 
