Two-thirds of American teachers report feeling burned out: poll
Parents and children may be feeling confident about the new school year but most teachers aren’t as sure — with 65% saying they’re feeling burned out.
Parents are a lot more confident than teachers, research from OnePoll found, reporting that 44% of teachers and 55% of parents are feeling less anxious about the upcoming school year compared to last year.
The survey, conducted on behalf of Office Depot, questioned 2,000 people — 1,000 of whom work as kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers and 1,000 who are parents to school-age children — about their feelings heading into the new school year.
Although parents reported feeling less anxious going into the 2022 to 2023 school year, that wasn’t the case for teachers — who were twice as likely to say they were at the same anxiety level as last year.
In a similar poll in 2021, 54% of respondents felt more anxious for the back-to-school season that year than they did before the 2020 pandemic.
Although parents reported feeling less anxious going into the 2022 to 2023 school year, that wasn’t the case for teachers.
“Last year’s back-to-school season was filled with uncertainty as students, parents and teachers had to adapt to new learning environments,” Kevin Moffitt, Office Depot’s executive vice president and chief retail officer, told Talker.
He also suggested that the back-to-school season is inspiring some to find ways to put their best foot forward.
“This year, with students, parents and teachers feeling more confident heading into the new school year, our clients are looking for products that show off their personalities and set themselves up for success both in and out of the classroom,” he said.
The survey showed that parents’ COVID-19 concerns had halved, with more than 50% marking the pandemic as a top concern last year and just 26% responding that it was a concern this year.
Yet the coronavirus pandemic did demonstrate the value of technology in the classroom, with 44% of parents saying technology is one of the most critical factors to a student’s success.
A concern for nearly a third of parents was their school district having the appropriate number of qualified staff members, and the biggest concern for almost a quarter of teachers was delayed academic progress among their students, making it one of the top-ranked options for two years in a row.
Most parents (68%) think their school district has the appropriate resources; however, only 54% of teachers say the same. Overall, most parents (70%) are worried about school supply costs — more so in public schools (74%) than private (69%) – and both parents (68%) and teachers (59%) alike expect to spend even more this year.
Overall, 38% of parents believe that having a supportive teacher will be one of the most critical factors to their child’s success. However, only 27% of teachers agreed, as 65% responded by saying they’re experiencing burnout.
“Now more than ever, we need to support teachers as much as we can — financially, mentally and physically,” Moffitt said. “There are few things more influential in this world than a great teacher.”
School must-haves, according to parents
- Basic supplies (e.g. notebooks, pencils, highlighters): 41%
- Laptop/tablet: 38%
- Backpack/lunchbox: 32%
- Retro supplies (e.g. 1990s-era gel pens, scented markers, trapper keepers: 31%
- Headphones: 27%
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