Summer breaks enhance teachers' well-being
While summer breaks are traditionally seen as 'time off', they can be reframed as strategic opportunities for emotional, cognitive and professional renewal. However, there is limited academic research specifically on how teachers use summer for self-care, growth and sustained well-being.
In recent years, the intensification of curriculum demands, the increase in administrative responsibilities and rapid technological advancements have significantly compounded the complexity of the teaching profession. Consequently, teaching is now widely recognised as one of the most emotionally taxing occupations, frequently leading to elevated levels of stress, professional burnout and workforce attrition.
According to a global survey, a substantial proportion of teachers report experiencing emotional exhaustion and a lack of sufficient opportunities for personal recovery throughout the academic year. Although summer breaks are commonly perceived as a passive respite from professional duties, they offer a valuable opportunity for educators to engage in deliberate and structured well-being practices.
Although relatively under-researched, summer breaks have been increasingly recognised for their potential to function similarly to sabbaticals, offering educators critical opportunities for psychological renewal.
Research in educational psychology indicates that structured breaks — those combining restorative and enriching activities — can enhance emotional regulation and professional efficacy. Additional, summer breaks may serve as an optimal period for mitigating teacher burnout, which is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and diminished personal accomplishment.
Empirical studies have consistently linked such burnout to excessive workloads, escalating administrative demands and persistent classroom challenges. To address these issues, evidence-based strategies grounded in occupational stress theory and resilience research have been proposed, emphasising psychological detachment from work — such as disengaging from school-related communication — as essential to emotional recovery.
Additional recommendations include maintaining regular sleep patterns, participating in low-intensity physical activities such as walking or yoga and engaging with restorative natural environments.
Moreover, re-establishing a personal identity beyond the professional role has been advocated as a means of combating emotional fatigue. This process may involve creative pursuits and volunteerism outside the education sector, both of which can foster intrinsic motivation and psychological well-being. Aligned with Stress Recovery Theory, such recovery experiences — characterised by rest, mental detachment, autonomy and mastery — are associated with reduced stress and improved overall life satisfaction.
To conclude, summer break is regarded as a critical period for the implementation of practical strategies. Intentions should be set at the outset through reflective consideration of individual needs, such as rest, personal growth, social connection, or creative engagement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
a day ago
- Observer
Thinking is a luxury good
When I was a kid in the 1980s, my parents sent me to a Waldorf school in England. At the time, the school discouraged parents from allowing their kids to watch too much TV, instead telling them to emphasise reading, hands-on learning and outdoor play. I chafed at the stricture then. But perhaps they were on to something: Today I don't watch much TV and I still read a lot. Since my school days, however, a far more insidious and enticing form of tech has taken hold: the internet, especially via smartphones. These days I know I have to put my phone in a drawer or in another room if I need to concentrate for more than a few minutes. Since so-called intelligence tests were invented around a century ago, until recently, international IQ scores climbed steadily in a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. But there is evidence that our ability to apply that brain power is decreasing. According to a recent report, adult literacy scores levelled off and began to decline across a majority of OECD countries in the past decade, with some of the sharpest declines visible among the poorest. Kids also show declining literacy. Writing in the Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch links this to the rise of a post-literate culture in which we consume most of our media through smartphones, eschewing dense text in favour of images and short-form video. Other research has associated smartphone use with ADHD symptoms in adolescents, and a quarter of surveyed American adults now suspect they may have the condition. School and college teachers assign fewer full books to their students, in part because they are unable to complete them. Nearly half of Americans read zero books in 2023. The idea that technology is altering our capacity not just to concentrate but also to read and to reason is catching on. The conversation no one is ready for, though, is how this may be creating yet another form of inequality. Think of this by comparison with patterns of junk food consumption: As ultraprocessed snacks have grown more available and inventively addictive, developed societies have seen a gulf emerge between those with the social and economic resources to sustain a healthy lifestyle and those more vulnerable to the obesogenic food culture. This bifurcation is strongly class-inflected: Across the developed West, obesity has become strongly correlated with poverty. I fear that so, too, will be the tide of post-literacy. Long-form literacy is not innate but learned, sometimes laboriously. As Maryanne Wolf, a literacy scholar, has illustrated, acquiring and perfecting a capacity for long-form, 'expert reading' is literally mind-altering. It rewires our brains, increasing vocabulary, shifting brain activity towards the analytic left hemisphere and honing our capacity for concentration, linear reasoning and deep thought. The presence of these traits at scale contributed to the emergence of free speech, modern science and liberal democracy, among other things. The habits of thought formed by digital reading are very different. As Cal Newport, a productivity expert, shows in his 2016 book, 'Deep Work,' the digital environment is optimised for distraction, as various systems compete for our attention with notifications and other demands. Social media platforms are designed to be addictive, and the sheer volume of material incentivises intense cognitive 'bites' of discourse calibrated for maximum compulsiveness over nuance or thoughtful reasoning. The resulting patterns of content consumption form us neurologically for skimming, pattern recognition and distracted hopping from text to text — if we use our phones to read at all. Tech notables such as Bill Gates and Evan Spiegel have spoken publicly about curbing their kids' use of screens. Others hire nannies who are required to sign 'no phone' contracts, or send their kids to Waldorf schools, where such devices are banned or heavily restricted. The class scissor here is razor-sharp: A majority of classical schools are fee-paying institutions. Shielding your kids from device overuse at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula will set you back $34,000 a year at the elementary grades. Even beyond Silicon Valley, some people are limiting digital stimulation (like social media or video games) for set periods of time as part of the self-improvement practice of dopamine fasting. The ascetic approach to cognitive fitness is still niche and concentrated among the wealthy. But as new generations reach adulthood having never lived in a world without smartphones, we can expect the culture to stratify ever more starkly. On the one hand, a relatively small group of people will retain, and intentionally develop, the capacity for concentration and long-form reasoning. On the other, a larger general population will be effectively post-literate — with all the consequences this implies for cognitive clarity. Lest you mistake me, there is no reason the opportunity to sideline the electorate or to arbitrage the gap between vibes and policy should especially favour either the red team or the blue team. This post-literate world favours demagogues skilled at code-switching between the elite language of policy and the populist one of meme-slop. It favours oligarchs with good social media game and those with more self-assurance than integrity. It does not favour those with little money, little political power and no one to speak up for them.
Observer
21-07-2025
- Observer
Summer breaks enhance teachers' well-being
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2025), teacher burnout is at an all-time high; therefore, the well-being of educators has become a critical area of concern in education systems worldwide. While summer breaks are traditionally seen as 'time off', they can be reframed as strategic opportunities for emotional, cognitive and professional renewal. However, there is limited academic research specifically on how teachers use summer for self-care, growth and sustained well-being. In recent years, the intensification of curriculum demands, the increase in administrative responsibilities and rapid technological advancements have significantly compounded the complexity of the teaching profession. Consequently, teaching is now widely recognised as one of the most emotionally taxing occupations, frequently leading to elevated levels of stress, professional burnout and workforce attrition. According to a global survey, a substantial proportion of teachers report experiencing emotional exhaustion and a lack of sufficient opportunities for personal recovery throughout the academic year. Although summer breaks are commonly perceived as a passive respite from professional duties, they offer a valuable opportunity for educators to engage in deliberate and structured well-being practices. Although relatively under-researched, summer breaks have been increasingly recognised for their potential to function similarly to sabbaticals, offering educators critical opportunities for psychological renewal. Research in educational psychology indicates that structured breaks — those combining restorative and enriching activities — can enhance emotional regulation and professional efficacy. Additional, summer breaks may serve as an optimal period for mitigating teacher burnout, which is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and diminished personal accomplishment. Empirical studies have consistently linked such burnout to excessive workloads, escalating administrative demands and persistent classroom challenges. To address these issues, evidence-based strategies grounded in occupational stress theory and resilience research have been proposed, emphasising psychological detachment from work — such as disengaging from school-related communication — as essential to emotional recovery. Additional recommendations include maintaining regular sleep patterns, participating in low-intensity physical activities such as walking or yoga and engaging with restorative natural environments. Moreover, re-establishing a personal identity beyond the professional role has been advocated as a means of combating emotional fatigue. This process may involve creative pursuits and volunteerism outside the education sector, both of which can foster intrinsic motivation and psychological well-being. Aligned with Stress Recovery Theory, such recovery experiences — characterised by rest, mental detachment, autonomy and mastery — are associated with reduced stress and improved overall life satisfaction. To conclude, summer break is regarded as a critical period for the implementation of practical strategies. Intentions should be set at the outset through reflective consideration of individual needs, such as rest, personal growth, social connection, or creative engagement.
Observer
18-07-2025
- Observer
Why career guidance matters in education
It is the time of the year when high school exam results are being released and we hear celebratory cheers in homes. But amidst the excitement, an important question often goes unasked: What comes next? All too often, students are expected to chart their future pathways with little structured support. This lack of formal guidance is a gap in our education system that parents, educators and communities cannot afford to ignore. Academic success is a wonderful foundation, but it should not be the final goal. A recent global study found that 39 per cent of teenagers are unsure about their future career paths as they approach graduation, largely due to inadequate guidance and overwhelming information that is not well organised. In Oman, too, we see capable students arriving at university or entering the workforce under prepared, often dissipating talent and potential. Without career guidance, young people make life-changing decisions based solely on grades or, worse, parental expectations rather than on their own strengths, passions, or long-term employability. Schools focus on learning and development up to the point of university admission, but once focused on tests and placement, resources dry up. The 'transition phase' from secondary education to real-life becomes a bottleneck, not a bridge. Career guidance is not just a helpful extra but it should be integrated into the high school curriculum, a standard part of every teenager's journey. Evidence shows that schools offering structured career education see students who are more confident in their career choices, achieve higher academically and possess a stronger awareness of their future options. Moreover, intensive high school career guidance significantly boosts university enrollment rates for low-income students by as much as 10 percentage points and reduces income-related gaps in higher education. Not only does this foster equity, but it also translates into higher incomes and better societal outcomes down the line. The OECD, a global authority on education, deems career guidance essential for lifelong learning and employment success. Yet, in many schools, counselors are under-resourced, teachers aren't trained and career planning remains fragmented. Schools must become active incubators of informed decision-making. This includes, exploring strengths and interests through personality tests and aptitude assessments, career exposure by inviting guest speakers, hosting internships or industry visits. Also structured guidance sessions that include guiding students through career frameworks and mapping options or curricular integration by tying academic subjects to real-world careers, showing students how what they learn applies beyond school. Parents are often reliable confidants and studies show 90 per cent of Gen Z trust their parents most for career guidance but yet many parents feel unprepared themselves. Parents and teachers can begin by initiating conversations: 'What do you enjoy?', 'What do you see yourself doing?', 'Which subjects excite you?' But without systemic support, good intentions fall short. Schools must embed career guidance into daily life, equipping students with self-awareness, job-world knowledge and decision-making skills. The real milestone is what comes after the results are out. Let this moment be a catalyst for families to start deeper conversations, for schools to question if they are supporting the full educational journey and for community leaders to advocate for structured career guidance across our educational system. Because when we support students to know themselves and understand their future, we empower not just individual success, but the future of a nation itself. If we want our educated young people to make informed choices, thrive in global careers and contribute confidently to society, we must fill this gap.
