The Way to Better Schools is 
With Better Teachers, Better Curriculum 
and Better Leaders

Better Teachers Starts with Fighting Teacher Burnout

Written by Doc Schwartz, M.Ed. | Sept 22, 2023 | Blog

"If we don't have great teachers, then we don't have great schools," said Doc to a group of parents back in 2017. "But the problem is most school districts do not provide teachers with the right professional development or the right teacher supports."

But what does professional development and teacher support have to do with fighting teacher burnout?

And the answer is cortisol.

Back in 2016, two academic researchers from the University of British Columbia decided to measure the cortisol levels of teachers in highly stressful classrooms and what they found not only shocked them, but the entire education community.

What they discovered is that stress can be contagious. In other words, teachers and students can pass their stress on to the other and vice versa. This was a ground breaking discovery because this explains why more teachers than ever before have been quitting the profession.

According to news reports, more than 1 million teachers have quit since 2018 and based on every teacher survey conducted by Education Week and the NEA (National Education Association) nearly 80% of current teachers are "thinking about quitting" in the next few years.

Of course the mainstream media wants you to think teachers are quitting because of low pay or out of control student behaviors, but that's not what is forcing teachers to say "I'm done!"

The truth is teachers are quitting because of stress and elevated cortisol levels. In fact, if a teachers cortisol levels get too high, they have to quit otherwise they could run into serious health complications, such as heart attacks, strokes and also early death.

Therefore, if we want to save teachers, then we need to help them lower their cortisol levels immediately. 

But here's the problem. 

Our K12 system isn't set up to handle stressed out teachers, let alone help them lower their cortisol levels. And once you realize that - it should come as no surprise that more and more teachers need to escape the hell-scape that the K12 system has become.

So what's the solution? 

The only way to help teachers become great is if we give them protection against stress and elevated cortisol levels. Because if we don't help protect teachers against stress - then more and more teachers are going to have to call it quits.

That's a guarantee, not a promise.

So why don't we just help Miss M, who can't take it anymore after 15 years of teaching? 

The fact is Miss M doesn't deserve to be stressed out and she also doesn't deserve to put her health at risk just to teach kids, does she? And the answer is no. Teaching doesn't need to kill you, in order to be a noble profession.

But how do we help Miss M?

The solution is the De-Stress Program. And if you want to know more about it and how it works - simply follow the green button below to answer all of your questions.

If You Want to be a Leader, Learn the 6 Principles of Leadership First
Better Schools Start with 
Better Leaders
Put Your Principal's Email in Here

Principals want to do the right thing, the only problem is they don't know what the right thing is when it comes to teachers.

Therefore, stop making your principal guess what you need - and just put their email in here and let Leaf Academy teach your principal how to become a better leader for your school. 

Written by D.Scott Schwartz, M.Ed.

A Preview of What You'll Learn?

Inside the Teacher Development Program guide you will receive in your inbox, you will learn about how we break down teacher development into 4 critical areas. You will also learn why providing 10-months of consistent PD is a much better idea than "swoop in and swoop out" PD workshops.

When you read about this groundbreaking teacher program, you will wonder why you stuck with the old method for so long. 

READ MORE ARticles
- The Roadmap For Success
How to Follow Your Dreams 
- Disrupting Education
How to Upgrade Schools 
CHECK OUT THE PODCAST!!
"Tuesdays with Schwartz"
5pm EST/ 2pm PST
Every Tuesday on IG
(Click the Image to Watch the Podcast)
© Copyright 2020 - 2026. Education Development Institute.  All Rights Reserved

LIMITED TIME OFFER!!

Get All Five "Intro to 21st Century Skills" Lessons
For One Low Price!!