Self-Care for Burned-Out Primary Teachers (That Doesn’t Add More to Your Plate)
If you’re a primary teacher feeling burned out or anxious, it makes sense.
Primary teaching demands constant attention, flexibility, and emotional availability, often without enough space to recover before doing it all again the next day.
Many teachers tell me they’re doing everything they’re supposed to do — planning, caring, showing up — and yet still feel depleted. Even the idea of self-care can feel like another thing you’re meant to be doing better.
This blog isn’t about fixing yourself or adding more to your list. It’s about responding to the questions teachers are already asking, and looking at what actually helps when you’re already exhausted.
“Why do I feel so burned out — even when I love teaching?”
Burnout in primary teaching isn’t just about workload. It’s about constant holding.
You’re managing learning, behaviour, emotions, safeguarding concerns, parents’ expectations, paperwork, and the quiet pressure to get it right — all at the same time. There’s rarely a true pause, even when you’re not physically in school.
When this level of demand goes on for too long, anxiety often follows. Not because you’re not coping well enough, but because your nervous system hasn’t had a chance to settle.
For many primary teachers, burnout and anxiety are reasonable responses to chronic overload, not signs that something is wrong with you.
“I’m exhausted all the time — am I just not resilient enough?”
One thing that quietly feeds burnout is how often teachers minimise what they do.
Many primary teachers put themselves down for feeling tired or overwhelmed, without recognising the level of responsibility they’re carrying. In reality, the role uses a skill set closer to senior leadership than most people realise.
In many ways, being a primary teacher is similar to being a CEO — except most of the work happens all at once, and without pause.
On any given day, you’re planning lessons, teaching them, and adapting them on the spot when the class needs something different. You’re managing behaviour while still trying to keep learning going. You’re making constant decisions — who needs support, who to challenge, who to keep an eye on — often without a moment to think.
At the same time, you’re holding children’s emotional needs and staying regulated yourself. You’re responding to parents, colleagues, and leadership, sometimes around sensitive issues. And you’re reworking plans when the day doesn’t go as expected — because something always changes.
Most of this happens automatically. Because it’s second nature, it often goes unnoticed — especially by the person doing it.
Over time, that combination of high responsibility and very little acknowledgement can quietly wear you down. Not because you’re failing, but because you’re doing far more than you give yourself credit for.
“What self-care actually helps when you’re this tired?”
When you’re burned out, self-care needs to reduce pressure, not become another thing to keep up with.
Teachers often share that what helps most isn’t big lifestyle changes, but small shifts that take something off their plate. For example:
One realistic boundary, rather than a perfect routine
This might be not checking emails after a certain time, or choosing one evening a week where school stays at school.Movement that doesn’t feel like a task
A walk, stretching, or gentle movement without tracking or targets.Protecting rest, not earning it
Burnout convinces many teachers they need to be more productive before they can rest. In reality, rest is part of recovery.Doing something that reminds you you’re more than a teacher
Time with someone who knows you outside of school, or an activity that isn’t about improvement.
For many teachers, self-care is less about doing more — and more about allowing less to be demanded of them, where possible.
“Why does self-care advice sometimes make me feel worse?”
A lot of teachers say that self-care has started to feel like another standard they’re failing to meet.
When advice focuses on better routines, more resilience, or stricter discipline with yourself, it can quietly increase shame rather than ease stress.
It can help to think of self-care not as optimisation, but as support.
Support doesn’t ask you to push harder.
It helps you carry what you’re already holding.
“When self-care isn’t enough, how can therapy help?”
Many teachers I work with aren’t just tired — they’re carrying everything.
In therapy, one of the first things we often do is slow that down.
That might involve:
Having a space where you don’t need to prioritise anyone else
Gently laying out everything you’re holding, without pressure to fix it
Understanding what genuinely needs your energy right now — and what might be able to wait, be shared, or be softened
For many teachers, anxiety eases not because life suddenly becomes easier, but because the load becomes more manageable.
We might explore:
What has become a priority out of necessity, and what out of habit or guilt
Where responsibility has quietly grown too heavy
How to develop kinder internal boundaries, not just external ones
Therapy isn’t about telling you to cope better.
It’s about helping you carry less, or carry things differently.
Burnout doesn’t mean you’re not good at your job — it usually means you’ve been doing it under sustained pressure.
If you’re a primary teacher feeling burned out or anxious, there is nothing wrong with you. You’re responding to a role that asks for constant attention, care, and flexibility — often without enough space to recover.
You don’t need to master self-care or overhaul your life. Even small shifts, and having somewhere to put things down, can make a real difference.
If you’re a primary teacher in the West Midlands and this resonates, you’re welcome to get in touch to explore whether therapy could support you. There’s no pressure — just a conversation.