'Unsustainable' workloads contribute to teacher burnout

Teacher workloads in Northern Ireland are "unsustainable", one post-primary teacher has said.

Brian Banks, who teaches in an integrated school in Belfast, said the workload challenges had a "knock on effect" on pupils.

It comes as research by Dublin City University (DCU), in collaboration with St Mary's University College in Belfast, has found 91% of teachers in Northern Ireland are experiencing work-related burnout.

Over 600 teachers across the country were surveyed for the research, with 46% saying they were likely to leave the profession due to burnout.

Banks, who is also the junior vice president at teaching union NASUWT and a co-founder of a teacher workload campaign group, said teachers "bring their work home".

He said that their to-do lists were "impossible to achieve," adding: "The problem with workloads is they are never-ending."

The Department of Education said the minister commissioned a panel to look at the issue of workload last May and committed to produce a plan, which will be published soon.

Banks worked in further education prior to post-primary teaching and suffered from burnout.

His GP signed him off work for three months and he was told the solution was to find another job.

"That's what many teachers do," Banks said.

Head teachers have previously described the pressures in their schools as "exhausting and untenable".

In January, the unions representing teachers in Northern Ireland accepted a pay rise of 4% for 2025-26 after increasing workloads had been highlighted as a reason teachers rejected pay deals in previous years.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises burnout as an occupation-related phenomenon caused by prolonged and unmanaged workplace stress.

According to the WHO, it has three key features: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment.

The research had over 600 responses from primary and post-primary teachers in Northern Ireland, and was undertaken from November 2025 to January 2026.

It found 95% of respondents indicated workload as a contributor to burnout, while 59% cited unrealistic parental expectations.

Meanwhile, 46% cited challenges working with pupils with special educational needs as a contributing factor.

Teachers from Northern Ireland participating in the study were also asked to record their self-rated mental health over the past year.

Some 32% of respondents rated their mental health as poor or very poor - and 16% of those who reported poor or very poor mental health said it had negatively influenced their ability to engage in teaching and learning with pupils.

Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons from DCU said the study was a reminder that burnout could not be addressed "through temporary measures or initiatives focused solely on enhancing teacher resilience in the face of ongoing stressors".

She said "meaningful systemic change" was needed to "rebuild the conditions of teaching for the long term".

Paul Hazzard from St Mary's University College, Belfast added: "When we protect the wellbeing of the teacher, we protect the quality of our children's future.

"If we are serious about the future of education, we must be serious about protecting the wellbeing of teachers.

"Supporting teachers is an urgent moral responsibility. Simply, there is no route to educational excellence without teacher wellbeing."