Teacher burnout is something that I have been warned about in the past form fellow teachers and professors. I have always kept in mind that is important to take care of myself throughout my journey as a teacher and that with the right coping strategies I can avoid teacher burnout. There can be many causes for teacher burnout but one that has come to my attention recently is the relationship between student misbehaviour and teacher burnout.
Student misbehaviour has been known to be a source of stress for teachers for some time, and is associated with high levels of teacher reported burnout (Hasting & Bham, 2003). This is not hard to believe; as teachers we deal with many different issues in the classroom daily and dealing with a difficult student takes a lot of energy and time. Overtime this can have a negative affect on our physical and emotional health (Hasting & Bham, 2003). In a study done by Hastings & Bham (2003), it was revealed that teacher self efficacy in their ability to manage the classroom and student behaviour was an important factor in avoiding reported teacher burnout. Also, retaliating with emotion-focused strategies when dealing with difficult students showed an increase risk in emotional exhaustion (Hastings & Bham, 2003).
Dealing difficult students is not something we can do on our own. I believe it is really important to seek help in the beginning of the year when we notice that there are difficult students in the classroom. Having a positive and frequent relationship with school administrators and school counsellors can help with the emotional strains of the work.
These are good observations. It is difficult, as an educator, to help a student struggling with behaviour issues and not feel frustrated for the rest of the students they are teaching and themselves. It is true that an educator needs to be resilient, to not take behaviour personally and to access help that might be available. Having an attitude that there is hope, that intervention can be successful and that others are behind them, can often prevent teachers from burn out and help them to support all of their students.