Commentary: Teachers who complain about burnout are not bad teachers

In a commentary, SMU postgraduate student Tang Bek Wuay and SMU Assistant Professor of Psychology Jacinth Tan discussed the issue of burnout among teachers. In a Ministry of Education (MOE) engagement survey conducted in June, three in 10 teachers said they could not cope with stress at work. They explained why teachers are feeling so burnt out, and discussed ways to provide resources, support and skills to balance job demands and help shore up resilience. They also explored the role that department heads, vice-principals and principals should play, as they believe that addressing the root cause of the problem would require school leaders to be part of the solution and champion for more structural changes to improve the workplace.