Now that most of us here at Learning Scientists have put the 2017-2018 academic year behind us I thought it would be a good time to reflect on an issue that affects a lot of educators: burnout. Burnout has a tendency to sneak up on you. A bad week turns into a bad month. A bad month turns into a bad year. As educators we're asked to take on a lot, so it can be hard to tell when we're just going through a "rough patch" or when we've pushed ourselves too far. This week we've selected some articles on what burn out is, how it affects teachers and academics, and a first hand account of burnout. 

1) The Tell-Tale Signs of Burnout... Do You Have Them? by Sherrie Bourg Carter of Psychology Today

In this post Sherrie Bourg Carter outlines some of the signs of burnout and how to recognize them.

2) Why Academics Suffer Burnout by Matthew Reisz for Times for Higher Education

This article shares information on a survey about prevalence of burnout in higher education.

3) The 40-Year-Old Burnout by Jonathan Malesic in The Chronicle of Higher Education

Jonathan Malesic tells his story of burnout and why he decided to leave academia.

4) Teacher Burnout or Demoralization? What's the Difference and Why it Matters by Tim Walker for NEA Today

For a different perspective on burnout, here is an interview with Doris Santoro about what she calls demoralization and why it's different from burnout.

5) The Teacher Burnout Epidemic by Jenny Grant Rankin for Psychology Today

In this second post in a series about teacher burnout, Jenny Rankin discusses some statistics on how stress and burnout affect teachers.

Every Sunday, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:

Weekly Digest #104: Media Multitasking

Weekly Digest #105: Summer Reading Programs

Weekly Digest #106: Learning to Manage Your Own Finances

Weekly Digest #107: Spiral Review

Weekly Digest #108: What Can We Learn From High-Performing Education Systems?