Can Social Emotional Learning Help Reduce K-12 Teacher Burnout and Improve Well-Being? by Christina Whalen

The teaching profession is one of the highest risk careers due to the occupational risk hazards such as workload, lack of social support, lack of training and resources, difficulty with classroom management, and role ambiguity (Alarcon 2011). Teacher stress is extremely high compared to other professions with about half of teachers leaving education within the first 5 years of teaching and about 15% leaving education every year (about 500,000 teachers/year) (Ingersoll 2001). High stress at work is associated with fatigue, strained relationships, negativity, efficacy, and burnout (World Health Organization 2019). Burnout can also lead to higher absenteeism, low job satisfaction, and can even have serious impacts on mental and physical health (Merida-Lopez and Extremera 2017). 

Most schools in the U.S. were forced to close and quickly shift gears to distance learning in 2020, and many have had to close again due to increasing COVID cases in the 2021–2022 school year. The COVID pandemic has led to increased stress and burnout for many educators due to teachers having to adapt to unprecedented conditions such as online instruction, mask rules, difficulties connecting with students and families, and the return to school (Carver-Thomas, Leung, and Burns, 2021). In addition, schools are faced with increased challenges with students including increased mental health issues, behavior problems, absenteeism, and learning loss (World Economic Forum 2022). In one study by the National Education Association (2022), 90% of educators reported that burnout was a serious problem and 86% said that they have seen an increase in educators leaving the field since the start of the pandemic. 

When a teacher is able to manage their stress levels and regulate their emotions effectively, it creates an environment in which students are also better able to regulate their emotions and manage stress (Oberle and Schonert-Reichl 2016). Lower levels of stress and teacher burnout can result in improved outcomes for students (Herrman, Hickmon-Rosa, and Reinke 2018) and when teachers experience difficulties with coping with stress it can lead to behavioral problems with students, and lower academic outcomes (Wentzel 2010).

Educator Shortages

Rising absenteeism is not just happening for students, but for teachers as well. Seventy percent of schools reported that there has been an increase in absences with staff since the pandemic, and 99% reported that it is not always possible to find substitute teachers.  Because of this, schools must rely on administrators, non-teaching staff, and others to cover classes on a regular basis (NCES 2022). Teacher absenteeism increases behavioral challenges in the classroom, often with less prepared staff who struggle to keep order. Shortages in teaching staff are causing a national crisis and the National Education Association states that it has become a “five-alarm crisis” and expresses concern that public K-12 schools are taking “desperate-and in some cases, questionable-measures to staff classrooms” (Conley 2022). School districts are struggling to fill positions with 48 states reporting teacher shortages in the 2021–2022 school year (Gaines 2022). There are about 567,000 less educators in public schools than prior to the pandemic and the ratio of new hires to job postings is now only at 0.57 (NEA 2022). In California, most districts are in dire need of teachers, particularly for math, science, special education, and bilingual education (Carver-Thomas, Leung, and Burns 2021). In many cases, unqualified teacher candidates are placed in classrooms with a provisional license. This can be problematic when the candidates have not had sufficient training in classroom management.  Teacher shortages combined with high stress can lead to more challenging behaviors with students and poorer classroom climate, which in turn produces negative effects on other teachers and students, creating an unproductive cycle (Garcia and Weiss 2020).

Organizations can shift the trend and increase retention and job satisfaction by providing support and resources to improve the work environment, culture, and climate (Trinidad 2021). To successfully move forward, it is essential to not only address student mental health and well-being, but it is also important to make sure that educators’ needs are being taken care of, and that they are personally and professionally prepared for their classrooms.

“The most important skills for educators to learn in order to have positive relationships with their students are to create and maintain a healthy learning environment, and to manage student emotional and behavioral challenges including self-awareness, social awareness, cultural awareness, prosocial values, and self-management”

Jennings and Greenberg 2009

Social and emotional wellness and mental health is not only important for student outcomes, it is also essential for building social, emotional, and mental health competencies in educators. This can reduce emotional exhaustion and burnout and improve self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Kim, Crooks, Bax, and Shokoohi 2021). In fact, taking care of educators’ well-being may be one of the best things that schools can do for students. People who are spending the most time with students and taking care of them are also taking care of themselves. Research supports the idea that teachers who are less stressed and have better mental health make for better teachers and have better student outcomes (Fan 2021).

Professional Development in SEL and Wellness

Professional development in social, emotional, and mental wellness has been shown in multiple studies to improve teacher’s well-being, to reduce burnout and stress, and to improve student outcomes (Schonert-Reichl 2017). The most important skills for educators to learn in order to have positive relationships with their students are to create and maintain a healthy learning environment, and to manage student emotional and behavioral challenges including self-awareness, social awareness, cultural awareness, prosocial values, and self-management (Jennings and Greenberg 2009).

In a recent study, we looked at the relationship between professional development in SEL and teacher ratings of burnout, job satisfaction, school connectedness, and well-being. The study included 1,090 K-12 educators who voluntarily completed surveys on burnout and well-being from 10 different school districts across the United States. Surveys included The Teacher Burnout Scale (Seidman and Zager 1986) and the Teacher Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire (TSWQ) (Renshaw, Long, and Cook 2015). Ratings were compared to the number of SEL professional development modules completed in a commercial SEL platform. Paired t-tests were used to compare the effects of the PD group and the Control group. The professional development series was created by and taught by experts in education, psychology, social work, and counseling is delivered through on-demand video-based training modules (8-10 minutes each) that help to increase awareness and understanding of mental health and social-emotional well-being of students and in themselves.

The RethinkEd SEL and Mental Health Professional Learning series was used to train the teachers in this study. The platform was developed by a team of experts in education, research, psychology, social work, and counseling and consists of on-demand video-based training modules (8-10 minutes each) that help to increase awareness and understanding of mental health and social-emotional well-being of students and in themselves. Modules are self-paced and provide strategies, activities, and resources for educators to improve their teaching and build their own SEL competencies and are available with English and Spanish closed captioning. Quizzes for each topic provide the opportunity to test acquired knowledge, to support PD accountability, and for educators to gain continuing education hours (30 minutes/module). The topics in Figure 1 align to CASEL (2020) and mental health standards and mirror the lessons for the students.

Figure 1: Mental Wellness Modules in RethinkEd

Educators who completed less than 5 professional development modules rated significantly higher burnout rates overall (average of 31 – Strong Feelings of Burnout) than those who completed an average of 29 modules (average of 28 – Few Burnout Feelings) on The Teacher Burnout Scale (See Figure 2). The lower PD group rated higher on all 21 items with statistically significant differences on 7 items. These differences were specifically greater for feelings related to work environment, being overwhelmed, and job satisfaction.

Figure 2: Significant Differences in Teacher Burnout Scale Ratings

Similar results were found for the TSWQ in that those teachers who completed more professional development modules in SEL reported higher scores of well-being particularly related to support systems and school connectedness (See Figure 3). Ratings did not differ for perceived Teaching Efficacy.

Figure 3: Teacher Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire Sub-Scale Scores

Our outcomes support the possibility that training educators in SEL may have a positive impact on their feelings of burnout, job satisfaction, well-being, and school connectedness. A large body of research supports the fact that teachers who feel more positively at work have better student outcomes and are less likely to leave the field (Kim, Crooks, Bax, and Shokoohi 2021). Nurturing educators as well as the students is essential for improving school climate and better student outcomes. Districts who are empowering and supporting teachers and building a culture of social, emotional, and mental wellness for staff and students, are in a better position to create a positive and enriching school climate and are more likely to keep staff, as well as the students engaged, learning, motivated, and making progress. Training in SEL can also help educators build their own competencies in self-awareness, cultural competence, equity, self-care, mental health, self-management, relationship-building, conflict resolution, resilience, and other important skills that will help them to model and teach these skills to their students in an effective and warm environment. SEL and wellness are just as important for teachers as it is for students, if not more so.

About the Scholar

Dr. Christina Whalen is the Director of Research for RethinkEd, an education technology company specializing in wellness, mental health, behavior, MTSS, and special education. She is a psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She was the primary author of the RethinkEd Tier 3 curriculum for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and assisted with the development of professional development videos for educators. She has over 25 years of experience working with children, teens, and adults with special needs. She is the author of the book Real Life, Real Progress for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Strategies for Successful Generalization in Natural Environments and has presented at numerous education, behavior analysis, and psychology conferences. She has taught college and graduate level courses in education and psychology at various community colleges and universities. Dr. Whalen was the initial founder and creator of TeachTown, a computer-assisted behavior analysis intervention for children with developmental disorders. She also worked for various clinics, schools, and research programs. She received her PhD from University of California, San Diego and did post-doctoral training and employment at UCLA and University of Washington.

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