Why Teachers Are Burning Out

67% of teachers report frequent job-related stress. 44% leave within five years. These aren't opinions—they're from RAND and the Learning Policy Institute.

The numbers

• • Average teacher work week: 54 hours
• • Time spent on grading/admin: 12+ hours/week
• • Teachers who leave within 5 years: 44%
• • Teachers reporting burnout: 67%

The main cause: too much work

When you dig into the research, one thing stands out: teachers don't have enough time. Not because they're inefficient—because the job demands more hours than exist.

A typical teacher juggles: lesson planning, differentiation, grading, data entry, parent communication, meetings, compliance documentation, and—somewhere in there—actual teaching.

What actually helps

1. Reduce the workload. Not productivity hacks. Actually doing less of the stuff that doesn't matter.

2. Automate the repetitive tasks. Grading is the biggest one. If 150 students × 5 minutes = 12+ hours per assignment, cutting that changes everything.

3. Set boundaries. Work expands to fill time. If you don't protect your evenings and weekends, they'll disappear.