Question: How can increasing awareness of teacher burnout minimize the effects?

Statement:
My Professional Inquiry Project is focused on understanding and educating individuals
on the issue of teacher burnout. The teaching profession is overloaded with extra-curricular
activities, collaboration meetings, staff meetings, and professional development before even
addressing the curriculum. Amongst all these activities it is no wonder that 46% of teachers
leave the profession within the first 5 years (Karsenti & Collin, 2013). The education staff at Dr.
Ken Sauer School is comprised of a wide range of backgrounds and years of experience. This
has provided me the opportunity to learn and grown amongst a variety of professionals.
However, this left me wondering how my fellow colleagues combatted the issues of teacher
burnout that I myself am feeling.
My initial weeks at Dr. Ken Sauer School have been an amazing learning experience but
finding a work-life balance has been challenging. This encouraged me to support myself, fellow
staff, first-year teachers, and practicum students in finding a way to spread awareness of the
issue. The resource I intend to create is focused on providing access to information regarding
ways to minimize burnout and strategies to promote a work-life balance. The creation of the
resource would be intended to provide teachers access to simple methods that are teacher
approved. I hope that this information will help minimize the impact on professional life inside
and outside the classroom.

Activities:
First, I will conduct interviews or surveys with teachers from Dr. Ken Sauer and other
schools outside the district to gain a better understanding of teacher burnout. The interview
process will be informal and will consist of a series of questions centered around the issue of
burnout. The interview questions will provide information regarding experiences, emotions, and
strategies on managing the profession. The multiple perspectives approach will provide me
guidance in shaping my product that suit the needs of everyone.

Second, I will conduct academic research regarding the stigma surrounding mental
heath and teacher burnout. This research will allow me to gather information and strategies
regarding the influence of teacher burnout on classroom setting. The research will provide me a
perspective on how the stigma and understanding of teacher burnout has evolved overtime.
Lastly, the research will supplement the interviews through providing guidance to shape my
product suiting everyone’s needs

Timeline:
February 24th to March 2nd: Google Survey to all Dr. Ken Sauer teachers on teacher burnout with
the option to be interviewed for further questions
March 2nd to March 9th: Individual interviews on teacher burnout
March 9th to March 20th: Research to supplement information collected from teacher
March 22nd: Completed resource for PIP Presentation

End Product:
The end product of my work will be a resource containing a vast expansion of
information for teachers to utilize. The hope is to have a resource organized into sections for
teachers to consider how teacher burnout begins, how to minimize the effects, and strategies to
find a work-life balance. The design of the end product is essential to ensure an easy reading
document that won’t add to future users work. I hope this resource can be shared with other
teachers and students when they begin their journeys as an educator.
 Bibliography
Karsenti, T., & Collin, S. (2013). Why are New Teachers Leaving the Profession? Results of a
Canada-Wide Survey. Education, 3(3), 141-149. Retrieved from
https://archipel.uqam.ca/12263/1/2013_Karsenti%2C%20T%20et%20Collin%2C
%20S_Education.pdf