Emotional Labour, Accountability, and Bad PR: A Gendered Literature Review and Professional Reflection on Teacher Wellbeing by a Practicing Teacher-Academic

Abstract

I am a teacher. I am a counselor. I am a social worker. I am a coach. I am a parent. To many of the students I teach, I am all of those things. To the province of Nova Scotia I must be all of those things, all of the time. I am tired. We are all tired. What has caused so many teachers to become unwell, burnt out? The breadth and almost universality of this problem suggests that it is not a problem with teachers. This literature review and professional reflection will demonstrate that burnout is a problem for teachers because of the structural realities in which they function.