How To Handle Teacher Burnout Biblically

As a junior at Eastern Kentucky University, I was majoring in special education with an emphasis on behavioral disorders. I always had such a passion for children that would beat you, curse at you, and openly defy you and that’s what drove me to become a special education teacher. As I was continuing along with my path to becoming a teacher, I hit a roadblock: I was forced to take a class, that was only offered on Mondays from 6pm-9pm, and had nothing to do with emotional and behavioral disorders. I suffered through about half the semester with this class and a professor that thought she was way funnier than she was and eventually, I couldn’t take it. I walked out in the middle of the class, left, and dropped the class, changed my major to elementary education, and never looked back. As a (now) elementary education major, I had to take a class on child psychology. During this child psychology course, the professor proclaimed that we needed to take a less “behavior has consequences” approach in the classroom and take an approach of ignoring problem behavior and attending to a child’s emotional needs. My classmates were eating up every word, nodding in agreement, and excitedly jotting down notes. At EKU, you shadowed at Model Laboratory School, which is a private school adjacent to EKU and is the ideal teaching environment. As I was taking this child psychology course, I was working in afterschool care in a public school situated in a low, socioeconomic area and working in an environment that was less than ideal. I was seeing the real world in action. And having seen the real world in action, I couldn’t help but feel that this professor’s insights into behavior management were setting future teachers up for frustration, burn out, and frankly, for failure. I decided that if this was education’s view on the future of classrooms, it wasn’t for me. Consequences are a biblical principle, as I detail in my training Biblical Classroom Management. You can also read Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 19:18, Proverbs 22:15, and Proverbs 29:15-17 to understand God’s perspective on disciplining our children. I left the field of education and instead earned my degree in Communication Studies, with the intention of going into training and development.

Many teachers today are facing burnout, are frustrated, feeling isolated and unsupported by administrations, and are leaving the profession altogether. Many cite a lack of support from administration, a heavy workload, unrealistic expectations, and student behavior as their primary reasons for leaving. One study showed 68% of teachers say they’ve been verbally abused by their students. Who could take these kinds of conditions for decades before retirement? I’ve talked to several teachers that retired young and even had some of them come teach at our small private school. The one thing they had in common was they still had a love of teaching, but they were tired of the game of education in public schools and the idea of a smaller setting was much more appealing. The unfortunate reality is that private schools receive no funding and mostly rely on tuition from families attending and that gives the schools two choices: 1) Charge high tuition fees that now make it exclusive to a certain socioeconomic group or 2) Charge moderate or even low tuition and teachers are compensated as such. To recap: We have a public school system that usually has decent pay, but good benefits to which many teachers are unhappy and a private school system that would make teachers happier (in theory), but pay and benefits are much less. How in the world are teachers supposed to navigate this mess?

The Bible gives us pathways for dealing with stress and frustration in all walks of life. The first solution is to turn to Jesus and remain connected to Him. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The Bible reinforces this earlier in Psalms 55:22: “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” When you’re stressed, come to Jesus, turn it over to Him, and let Him take the situation you’re praying about. It may be a coworker, a student and their behavior or motivations, a family, an administrator, whatever. Give it to Jesus and let Him take the burden on.

Second, remember that even though teaching is your job and maybe your passion, but we’re placed in situations for ministry. Romans 12:9-21 is a fantastic passage for remembering this:

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; ¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹ Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Meet the needs of your students, not because it’s your job, but because you’re working for the Lord, not people (Colossians 3:23). The only way to overcome evil is with good. The only way to overcome the problem behavior, the overbearing parents, the ineffectual administrator, and the depressing coworker is to lean on what is good. God is good, lean on His Word, lean on Jesus, remain connected to Jesus. Just like our cell phones that need to be charged to be useful, we have to remain connected to the Lord if we want to be useful. The Bible says in Jeremiah 31:25, “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” The Lord will refresh us if we remain connected to Him.

Lastly, be satisfied in your own work and don’t compare yourself to others. Galatians 6:4-5 says, “⁴ But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. ⁵ For each one shall bear his own load.” When you start looking at other teachers and comparing yourself to them, you start thinking, “They just do a better job than me” or “I don’t know why they get so much attention. I’m a better teacher than them” or “Why are they still employed here? They don’t do anything and I do much more!” That root of bitterness that’s mentioned in Hebrews 12 starts to seep in and effect you. Are there ways we can all improve? Absolutely, but focus on what you’re doing and keep doing the work you’re doing instead of focusing on what others are doing. Also, I recommend praying for your co-workers. If you’re feeling stress and feeling like you’re burning out, they may be feeling the same. Pray for your administrators also. Many people don’t realize the stress and the grind that administrators are taking on daily. As a former administrator, I can tell you it feels very isolated because you deal with so many situations that you cannot discuss with anyone else and you carry that alone. If you’re in a public school setting and work with other believers, maybe start a prayer group and just pray over needs together. Jesus said in Matthew 18:19-20, “¹⁹ “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” The principal of the school I did aftercare in was a pastor (later becoming my pastor) and he would tell me that he would walk through the hallways praying over students, teachers, and families when it was quiet and empty before school. I did this also as a principal and trusted that the Lord would bless our school.

God loves you and doesn’t want you miserable. Lean on the Lord, trust Him with your stress and with your frustration. Let Him sustain you. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Give Him everything and His peace will guard your heart and mind.

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