Teachers, Facing Increasing Levels of Stress, Are Burned Out

Initially Mr. Mishler didn’t think he would be leaving the profession entirely, but after interviewing at other schools he found the conditions to be too similar to the job he had left. He is now a copywriter at an advertising agency and says he “couldn’t be happier” with his decision. Mr. Mishler said he has a flexible schedule, works from home, and even has time to exercise.

“I feel like I’m not under fire in my job now,” he said. “My voice matters to my boss, I’m considered a valuable asset in my job, I’m safe where I work. Those things are really important, and I did not feel that way at the end of my teaching career.”

Gail Gallaher, Pasadena, Calif.

Gail Gallaher, 28, graduated with a master’s degree from Stanford University and started her first year of teaching in 2018. Just two years later, pandemic shutdowns went into place and she needed to quickly adjust to remote learning and other challenges in her role as a tenth grade science teacher.

Even after going back to in-person classes she described additional responsibilities, like keeping close records of her seating charts for contact tracing purposes. The emotional and physical stress of the job began to affect her health. “I worked a lot, and even more so, I thought and I worried about work a lot,” she said.

Her school was a Title I school in a low-income area south of Los Angeles, and suffered from systemic inequities and a lack of resources, including understaffing, Ms. Gallaher said. “A lot of expectations have been put on schools — and they’re good expectations, and we should care about the whole child, especially when some of our larger systems are failing. But we weren’t funded or staffed to do that in a sustainable way.”

The decision to leave did not come easily. She faced financial uncertainty as she looked for other jobs and was no longer eligible to have a portion of her student loans forgiven. But she eventually gave notice that the spring 2022 semester would be her last. “It’s so hard to quit teaching. It’s hard to stay, but it’s hard to quit,” she said. After taking a short break to recover, Ms. Gallaher recently found a job as a community manager for CommunityShare, a nonprofit civic organization.

For now, she’s happy with her decision and is excited for the future. “I’m just looking forward to finding new rhythms, setting down roots in a new community, rediscovering hobbies, spending more time with family, spending more time with my husband,” she said. “There are a lot of things I’m looking forward to.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/education/teachers-quitting-burnout.html