Based on a survey by Education Perfect of around 840 secondary school teachers across Australia and New Zealand, 27% are considering leaving the profession within the next three years due to stress, workload or burnout, while 30% say their stress or burnout is significantly worse than this time last year.
In a worrying sign that teacher pipeline issues are likely to worsen, less than half (47%) are “reasonably confident” they will still be teaching in three years.
While burnout itself isn’t new, one expert believes the nature of the pressure has fundamentally shifted.
James Santure, Head of Product Impact at Education Perfect, says teachers are no longer grappling with a single dominant issue, but a combination of compounding challenges – classroom disruption, increasing behavioural needs, attention issues, and growing administrative demands, all at once.
The result is a widening gap between what teachers want to deliver in the classroom and what the system currently enables them to deliver.
Below, The Educator speaks to Santure about why burnout has become a constant rather than cyclical challenge, how today’s pressures are harder to absorb, why retention deserves urgent focus, and the practical, teacher-led solutions that can ease the load.
TE: Drawing from your work with schools, why has burnout shifted from something cyclical to something far more persistent and widespread across the profession?
Burnout used to spike at certain points in the school year, around end of year or reporting deadlines. But now with every school day, the pressures on teachers are constant. Teachers are juggling heavy administrative loads with managing increasingly complex classroom environments. There’s rarely a pause in the rhythm of the school year, and planning and marking often spill into evenings and weekends. Even experienced teachers who love their work feel the strain. What used to come in waves has become the baseline, a sustained intensity that stretches across the profession and touches almost every teacher.
TE: What has meaningfully changed about the pressures teachers face today, and why are those pressures proving harder to absorb or recover from?
The nature of classroom demands continue to change, but now more than ever, teachers are not being provided with the resources to keep up with them. Behavioural challenges are more frequent, learning needs are increasingly diverse, and wellbeing issues are more visible than ever. Teachers are expected to respond to all of this every day, and the real pressure comes from the fact that support has not kept pace. There is very little opportunity to pause, reflect, or recover, and by the end of the day teachers feel stretched and drained. The admin and reporting workload is heavier too, making it difficult to regain energy, maintain focus, and engage both themselves and their students.
TE: In your view, why does retention (particularly of early-career educators) deserve the same level of urgency and policy attention as recruitment?
Retention is just as important as recruitment, if not more so. Early-career teachers face the same pressures as experienced staff, but with fewer strategies to cope. Without strong support and manageable workloads, many leave within the first few years. This isn’t just a numbers issue, it’s a loss of expertise that benefits students and other teachers. If we only focus on bringing people in without helping them stay, we’re solving one problem while creating another. Turning the tap to flow more into a leaky bucket is a poor long term strategy, and worse yet if the profession develops a reputation that dissuades young people to avoid the career entirely. When teachers stay in the profession, schools can build expertise, strengthen teaching practice, and better support long-term student learning and development. When teachers consistently leave, that continuity is lost, making it harder to improve learning outcomes for students, and placing more strain on other teachers and leaders at the school.
TE: What practical, teacher-centred changes can genuinely ease pressure, such as clearer expectations, more intelligent use of student data, and tools that save time rather than add complexity?
Small, practical changes can make a real difference for teachers. Clearer expectations from leadership help them focus on what matters most, while streamlined processes and realistic time allocations for planning, assessment, and reporting reduce unnecessary stress. Having space to pause and recover during the day is also crucial. Digital learning tools and other resources that help teachers address diverse learning needs, and better engage students in the classroom can give teachers a new and effective way to address the new challenges they face. Focusing on these everyday changes allows teachers to engage students more effectively, improve outcomes, and make the job sustainable without asking them to work harder.