Amid burnout, teachers are ready to embrace AI

Key points:

As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close, K-12 teachers in the U.S. are experiencing strain on the job: 35 percent of U.S. educators report burnout most of the days, which generates absenteeism and a decrease in the quality of instruction as consequences.

That is according to new data from Canva, a visual communication platform that offers free technological tools for the classroom. The report investigates what is causing teacher burnout, how it affects their work, and whether technologies like ai are becoming a useful resource.

When it comes to burnout, findings indicate that the majority of teachers experience it and it often prevents them from thriving at work:

K-12 Teachers Experiencing Burnout Are Not Alone:

• Nearly all teachers (83 percent) experience burnout on at least some days, and 35 percent experience it daily or most days.
• Top factors include strenuous classroom and student management responsibilities (46 percent), lack of administrative support (42 percent), low pay (38 percent), and the need to work outside of school hours (37 percent).
• Sixty-six percent of teachers report working beyond contractual hours, and 24 percent work an additional three hours a day.

Burnout can have a dire impact on the classroom experience:

• Teacher burnout can lead to increased absenteeism: 55 percent of teachers miss school days.
• Fifty-three percent also agree that it has made them feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and 45 percent have less patience with students.
• An additional 34 percent have lost interest in their work and the quality of their instruction has decreased.

Burnout sets in early in the year and affects teachers' feelings about the profession in general:

• Thirty-five percent of teachers felt burnout in the first two months of the most recent school year.
• Regardless of age or generation, 57 percent have considered leaving or changing schools due to burnout.

When it comes to reducing stress, teachers cited receiving higher salaries (61 percent) and maintaining a healthier work-life balance (44 percent) as things that would help. technology alone is not a solution, but many teachers are open to ai as a solution to address some of their pain points and support their work:

There is a strong correlation between educators' use of ai and job satisfaction:

• Forty-six percent of satisfied teachers use ai, compared to only 26 percent of dissatisfied teachers.
• During the last school year, 42 percent of K-12 teachers used ai in the classroom.

ai can improve the educational experience:

• Among those who used ai, 92 percent found it useful in addressing teaching pain points. Sixty percent agreed that ai could improve work efficiency and 58 percent said ai helped alleviate burnout.
• ai has also helped promote greater creativity and visual communication in the classroom. Fifty-one percent use ai to create and supplement classroom materials, 38 percent use ai to spark students' imagination and creativity, and 37 percent use it to enhance the visual elements of their work.

Those who have not yet tried ai are optimistic about its potential:

• More than half (56 percent) of teachers who have not tried ai believe it can help reduce burnout, with the belief pronounced among Gen Z and Millennial teachers (63 percent) and teachers with less of five years of experience (75 percent).
• Among those who have not adopted technology, 68 percent are likely to try ai for curriculum and planning, with kindergarten and elementary school teachers being the most likely (72 percent).

“We often hear from our teaching communities about the need to achieve more with less. Teacher stress is complex and cannot be resolved with any tool. Still, it's encouraging to see teachers benefiting from ai by easing their workloads, saving time and unlocking their creativity,” said Carly Daff, head of teams and education at Canva.

This press release originally appeared online.

Laura Ascione is the editorial director of eSchool Media. She graduated from the prestigious Philip Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

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