Resilience and Persistence in the Face of Burnout

Abstract

Education, and especially the life of a teacher, is constantly evolving. Teachers' roles and responsibilities have become more complicated and multifaceted over time. Therefore, they have to invest a great deal of time, energy, and effort to navigate the demands and complexities of their role. In the last 20 years, education has changed in response to increased workload, the rise of high-stakes testing and accountability, social-emotional and behavioral challenges among students, school safety concerns, equity concerns, and now the coronavirus pandemic. These factors have been linked to high stress and teacher burnout, which leads to more teachers leaving their jobs (Arvidsson et al., 2019). Nonetheless, those who endure the flames of burnout do so because they are resilient in the face of adversity and persistent in their commitment to the call of teaching and learning. This chapter examines the effects of stress and burnout among three alternatively certified teachers and the behaviors and strategies these educational first responders employ to build resilience and persistence in their service to the students who shape our future.

Citation

Singer, E.A., Epps, N. and DeJesus, M. (2023), "Resilience and Persistence in the Face of Burnout", Singer, E.A., Etchells, M.J. and Craig, C.J. (Ed.) Drawn to the Flame (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 45), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 81-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720230000045006