Teaching is a selfless profession. Although many of us find great satisfaction in our work, most educators would probably say they are driven by the desire to help and inspire students. Too often, educators sacrifice their own well-being to support students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. We have experienced this ourselves and seen it among educators we have supported. Teacher wellness influences school culture and climate, instruction, and students’ academic, personal, and emotional development (Sackney et al., 2000). It also affects the stability of the workforce. ''Teacher wellness influences school culture and climate, instruction, and students’ academic, personal, and emotional development.'' Share on X Educator burnout has increased in the United States over the past decade (Wang et al., 2015; Koenig et al., 2017), and
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References
Koenig, A., Rodger, S., & Specht, J. (2017). Educator burnout and compassion fatigue: A pilot study. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 32, 1-20.
Lauermann, F. & Konig, J. (2016). Teachers’ professional competence and wellbeing: Understanding the links between general pedagogical knowledge, self-efficacy and burnout. Learning and Instruction, 45, 9-19.
Morris, R.C. & Devane, S. (1994). An “integrated” wellness model for effectively coping with stress in teaching. Thresholds in Education, 20, 30-34.
National Wellness Institute. (n.d.). The six dimensions of wellness. www.nationalwellness.org/page/Six_Dimensions
Pennebaker, J. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8(3),162-166.
Sackney, L., Noonan, B., & Miller, C.M. (2000). Leadership for educator wellness: An exploratory study. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 3, 41-56.
Strout, K.A. & Howard, E.P. (2012). The six dimensions of wellness: Cognition in aging adults. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 30, 195-204.
Taxer, J.L. & Frenzel, A.C. (2015). Facets of teachers’ emotional lives: A quantitative investigation of teachers’ genuine, faked, and hidden emotions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 49, 78-88.
Wang, H., Hall, N.C., & Rahimi, S. (2015). Self-efficacy and causal attributions in teachers: Effects on burnout, job satisfaction, illness, and quitting intentions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 120-130.
Zurawik, M. (2020). Moving through spaces – leisure walking and its psychosocial benefits for well-being: A narrative review. Human Movement, 21(2), 1-8.
Angel Montoya is an anti-racist educator and researcher in Denver, Colorado. She is dean of students at Northeast Early College in Denver. Previously, she served as dean of students and cultural and linguistically responsive instructional support specialist in Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools and as a language arts teacher.
Laura Lee Summers is an associate clinical professor within the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado-Denver. She is also a digital designer and facilitator for Learning Forward’s virtual course: 8 Dimensions of Educator Wellness and the upcoming virtual course: Adapting Best Pedagogical Practices in an Equitable, Digital Environment. Her most recent publications for The Learning Professional are “The right blend: SEL supports teacher learning in person and online” (August 2020) and “Eight dimensions of wellness for educators” (February 2021).
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