Almost half of teachers say they expect to leave the profession permanently due to burnout and work-related stress.
A study carried out by Dublin City University (DCU) found poor mental health is becoming a significant issue for teachers, with 42% saying burnout could drive them to leave the teaching profession permanently.
85% of teachers say they're suffering moderate to high levels of work-related burnout, while 86% are experiencing personal burnout.
Three in ten (28%) describe their mental health as poor or very poor, with 17% saying it negatively influenced their ability to engage in teaching and learning with pupils.
File photo of a primary school teacher marking work in a classroom. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy Stock PhotoMore than 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers took part in the first-of-its-kind research in Ireland, which was carried out at DCU’s Centre for Collaborative Research Across Teacher Education (DCU CREATE) between November last year and February this year.
The results found no link between a teacher's age, gender, work experience or whether they were a parent, as to whether they were more likely to experience work-related burnout.
The report found the widespread nature of work-related stress, implies feelings of burnout may be influenced by other 'systemic and organisational factors in schools', such as workload, expectations from parents of pupils, challenges in working with pupils with special educational needs (SEN), and a school's culture.
Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons, DCU CREATE Co-Director, says the results show better policies are needed to help improve teacher wellbeing.
"We must take the poor wellbeing of teachers seriously and therefore there should be a coordinated approach to prioritise and address the structural factors contributing to teacher burnout.
"It's hoped that a shift in mentality from understanding burnout as an individual issue to a systemic issue will arise from the findings of this study.”
