Teacher burnout symptoms often include chronic stress, lack of motivation, and emotional fatigue. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s the result of prolonged exposure to high demands, accountability pressures, and long working hours, said Education Support, an organisation supporting those in higher education and further education as well as schools. 

Half of teachers said they would like to quit their jobs over the next 10 years because of the heavy workloads and administrative responsibilities, according to a study conducted in April by Stellenbosch University. Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said she is worried about the administrative workload of teachers. 

“The study published by Stellenbosch showed us what it is that teachers are most frustrated about.

“In fact, very surprisingly, remuneration was not top of the list; what was on top is the admin burden that teachers are facing away from teaching time. So they are saying there is a lot of compliance and forms that must be sent to circuit offices.

“And so a lot of those are some of the things that we need to fix. We need to make not only the profession attractive, but also need to make the working environment easy for a teacher to thrive.

“We must say, let’s use technology for you to submit your attendance registers, let’s use simpler things so that we can focus on the actual teaching, which some people are really passionate about.”

Exhaustion, detachment, performance

The core symptoms of burnout in teachers, according to Education Support:

• Exhaustion: Emotional and physical exhaustion is often the first visible sign. For teachers, this might include frustration and irritability, mood swings, and impaired concentration.
• Detachment from the job: A burnt-out teacher may begin to feel emotionally distanced from students, colleagues, or the profession itself. They could be sceptical and cynical about teaching, students, co-workers, or the school itself.
• Reduced performance: Teachers experiencing burnout may notice a decline in productivity, motivation, and self-confidence. Feelings of hopelessness, apathy, and irritability can make even routine tasks feel overwhelming.

The South African democratic teachers’ union expressed its hope that the survey results would result in the education department implementing intervention programs to support teachers, according to News 24.

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