Teachers make a difference. Day in, day out, all over the world, teachers are inspiring and igniting the minds and hearts of the beautiful, impressionable and delicate souls we entrust into their care. It’s rare to meet an adult who doesn’t warmly recall at least one teacher who made a lasting positive impact on them. Teachers are the most valuable resource in education, and we shouldn’t underestimate their contribution to wider society (and the economy!). But there’s a problem… 

A vocation plagued by stress and burnout

Teaching is a physically, mentally and emotionally demanding job. And with many teachers taking up the vocation precisely because they care so deeply about young people, not only is the emotional toll greater, but there is often a pull to work longer hours and deprioritise personal needs for the good of the students. 

Around the globe, there are worrying reports of the stress felt by teachers. 

• In South Africa teaching unions are raising the alarm over burnout and mental health crisis. 
• In Ireland 86% of teachers in a recent survey reported some level of burnout.
• In the US, earlier this year, researchers at the University of Missouri released a study in which they found that 78 percent of 500 public school teachers surveyed have thought about quitting their profession since the pandemic. The authors described stress and burnout as a “major public health challenge confronting the education system”
• A recent study of Czech primary and lower secondary school teachers highlighted the impact of burnout on work ability. 
• In South Korea, the suicide of a teacher triggered weeks of nationwide protests by teachers and large numbers of teachers have been leaving the profession as work-related stress contributes to high rates of teacher discontent 
• In the UK in 2024, 86% of 11,754 teachers surveyed reported that their job had adversely impacted their mental health over a 12-month period; and more than a quarter of teachers leave within 3 years of qualifying. 

In 2011, I myself became part of that statistic – leaving the profession early in my career despite loving teaching, feeling sure that if I stayed a mental breakdown was inevitable. The following year, I watched on helplessly as a close friend still in the classroom went through the mental breakdown I’d avoided before joining me in the glut of qualified teachers in their early 20s already out of teaching. 

The benefits of self-compassion

Something I am blessed to know now, that I had no concept of back in 2011, is the power of self-compassion. As the evidence base in the field of positive psychology has grown in the last two decades, the benefits of self-compassion have become clear. 

Of course, self-care is not the answer to all problems in education, or the whole answer to burnout, as the Greater Good Science Center point out. However, the growing body of research shows benefits for wellbeing including increased resilience to cope with trauma and stressful life events. Self-compassionate individuals also tend to have greater happiness, life satisfaction and motivation, better relationships, immune functioning and physical health, and less anxiety and depression. Teachers who have more self-compassion tend to provide higher levels of emotional support to their students. Self-compassion can also help reduce procrastination and alleviate the stress associated with it.

The importance of teaching self-compassion to teachers

Alarmingly, a newly published study has identified deep barriers exist to teachers accessing mental health support in schools. Time pressure, cultures of self-sacrifice, and the discouragement of showing or discussing emotions are severely impacting the ability of teachers to seek support, according to research carried out by psychology academics at the University of Derby.  

Thinking back to my three-year teaching degree, I received no instruction at all on managing my own wellbeing. No one taught me the skills to be kind to myself; I’d not heard of ‘self-compassion’, and I internalised the (with hindsight) unrealistic expectations of my university and placement schools, chastising myself when I struggled in practice to churn out perfectly manicured lesson plans; mark every book in 3 different coloured pens with a carefully considered two stars and a wish; and ensure I had immaculate, frequently changing classroom displays whilst also keeping up with the daily demands of teaching, assessment and safeguarding the children in my care. Despite the passage of time, and much greater awareness in 2025 of the benefits of self-compassion, I fear that not much has changed in teacher training. It is still not common for wellbeing or self-compassion to be a focus. 

The late Professor Felicia A Huppert wisely wrote “If every child matters, then it must follow as night follows day that every teacher matters.” If we care about and want to prioritise the needs of our children, we must prioritise the wellbeing of teachers. Children need their teachers to be emotionally well, and emotionally fit enough to cope with both the pressures of teaching life and the classroom.

Professor Frances Maratos, Professor of Psychology and Affective Science at the University of Derby, and a pioneer of Compassionate Mind Training in education highlights that  “We urgently need the government and decision-makers to foster a sincere, national conversation about the wellbeing of our teachers and to set the tone that it is okay, in fact vital, for teachers to look after themselves just as much as they do their pupils.” 
And a recent literature review on teacher wellbeing and effectiveness highlights that “higher teacher well-being contributes to more stable school functioning, while lower well-being is linked to absenteeism, reduced instructional quality, and burnout.” Further, “teachers’ self-efficacy has been found to positively predict students’ mental health, and teacher well-being within the school context is associated with students’ life satisfaction” The authors posit that “teacher well-being is not only vital for professional sustainability but also for fostering positive developmental outcomes in students.” Researchers have also found that when teachers are highly stressed, students in their classrooms are at a higher risk of being suspended or disciplined.

I hold out hope that in the not too distant future, wellbeing and self-compassion will be a core component of teacher training and CPD. We need systemic change in training and the wider culture of schools to support our educators. In the meantime, here are some resources to share with the teachers in your life as you remind them to prioritise self-care this World Teachers’ Day and beyond. 

Self-care and wellbeing resources for teachers:

• How to re-charge in 3 minutes or less
• Staying well in teaching: research-based insights and strategies
• Happiness Calendar for educators
• Self-compassion break for adults
• A Meditation For When You Have Too Much To Do
• How to Set Boundaries as an Overworked Educator
• Mindful Self-compassion exercise
• The Mindfulness for Learning podcast
• Start with Self-Compassion: Building a Kinder World from Within
• Busting myths that are barriers to self-compassion 
• The building blocks of good mental wellbeing
• Quick Six Practice
• 30 minute self-compassion letter writing exercise
• 7 tips for showing yourself some self-compassion
• What to do when the bottom falls out
• Healthy schools: The key role of compassionate leadership

With huge thanks to:

Our collaborators at the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) for sharing their resources.

Global Compassion Coalition Education Working Group member, Kathryn Lovewell, whose book Every Teacher Matters inspired this piece. 

Fellow Education Working Group member, Prof Frances Maratos for sharing her ongoing research in this field.