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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Is homework a necessary evil?

After decades of debate, researchers are still sorting out the truth about homework’s pros and cons. One point they can agree on: Quality assignments matter.

By Kirsten Weir

March 2016, Vol 47, No. 3

Print version: page 36

• Schools and Classrooms

Homework battles have raged for decades. For as long as kids have been whining about doing their homework, parents and education reformers have complained that homework's benefits are dubious. Meanwhile many teachers argue that take-home lessons are key to helping students learn. Now, as schools are shifting to the new (and hotly debated) Common Core curriculum standards, educators, administrators and researchers are turning a fresh eye toward the question of homework's value.

But when it comes to deciphering the research literature on the subject, homework is anything but an open book.

The 10-minute rule

In many ways, homework seems like common sense. Spend more time practicing multiplication or studying Spanish vocabulary and you should get better at math or Spanish. But it may not be that simple.

Homework can indeed produce academic benefits, such as increased understanding and retention of the material, says Duke University social psychologist Harris Cooper, PhD, one of the nation's leading homework researchers. But not all students benefit. In a review of studies published from 1987 to 2003, Cooper and his colleagues found that homework was linked to better test scores in high school and, to a lesser degree, in middle school. Yet they found only faint evidence that homework provided academic benefit in elementary school ( Review of Educational Research , 2006).

Then again, test scores aren't everything. Homework proponents also cite the nonacademic advantages it might confer, such as the development of personal responsibility, good study habits and time-management skills. But as to hard evidence of those benefits, "the jury is still out," says Mollie Galloway, PhD, associate professor of educational leadership at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. "I think there's a focus on assigning homework because [teachers] think it has these positive outcomes for study skills and habits. But we don't know for sure that's the case."

Even when homework is helpful, there can be too much of a good thing. "There is a limit to how much kids can benefit from home study," Cooper says. He agrees with an oft-cited rule of thumb that students should do no more than 10 minutes a night per grade level — from about 10 minutes in first grade up to a maximum of about two hours in high school. Both the National Education Association and National Parent Teacher Association support that limit.

Beyond that point, kids don't absorb much useful information, Cooper says. In fact, too much homework can do more harm than good. Researchers have cited drawbacks, including boredom and burnout toward academic material, less time for family and extracurricular activities, lack of sleep and increased stress.

In a recent study of Spanish students, Rubén Fernández-Alonso, PhD, and colleagues found that students who were regularly assigned math and science homework scored higher on standardized tests. But when kids reported having more than 90 to 100 minutes of homework per day, scores declined ( Journal of Educational Psychology , 2015).

"At all grade levels, doing other things after school can have positive effects," Cooper says. "To the extent that homework denies access to other leisure and community activities, it's not serving the child's best interest."

Children of all ages need down time in order to thrive, says Denise Pope, PhD, a professor of education at Stanford University and a co-founder of Challenge Success, a program that partners with secondary schools to implement policies that improve students' academic engagement and well-being.

"Little kids and big kids need unstructured time for play each day," she says. Certainly, time for physical activity is important for kids' health and well-being. But even time spent on social media can help give busy kids' brains a break, she says.

All over the map

But are teachers sticking to the 10-minute rule? Studies attempting to quantify time spent on homework are all over the map, in part because of wide variations in methodology, Pope says.

A 2014 report by the Brookings Institution examined the question of homework, comparing data from a variety of sources. That report cited findings from a 2012 survey of first-year college students in which 38.4 percent reported spending six hours or more per week on homework during their last year of high school. That was down from 49.5 percent in 1986 ( The Brown Center Report on American Education , 2014).

The Brookings report also explored survey data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which asked 9-, 13- and 17-year-old students how much homework they'd done the previous night. They found that between 1984 and 2012, there was a slight increase in homework for 9-year-olds, but homework amounts for 13- and 17-year-olds stayed roughly the same, or even decreased slightly.

Yet other evidence suggests that some kids might be taking home much more work than they can handle. Robert Pressman, PhD, and colleagues recently investigated the 10-minute rule among more than 1,100 students, and found that elementary-school kids were receiving up to three times as much homework as recommended. As homework load increased, so did family stress, the researchers found ( American Journal of Family Therapy , 2015).

Many high school students also seem to be exceeding the recommended amounts of homework. Pope and Galloway recently surveyed more than 4,300 students from 10 high-achieving high schools. Students reported bringing home an average of just over three hours of homework nightly ( Journal of Experiential Education , 2013).

On the positive side, students who spent more time on homework in that study did report being more behaviorally engaged in school — for instance, giving more effort and paying more attention in class, Galloway says. But they were not more invested in the homework itself. They also reported greater academic stress and less time to balance family, friends and extracurricular activities. They experienced more physical health problems as well, such as headaches, stomach troubles and sleep deprivation. "Three hours per night is too much," Galloway says.

In the high-achieving schools Pope and Galloway studied, more than 90 percent of the students go on to college. There's often intense pressure to succeed academically, from both parents and peers. On top of that, kids in these communities are often overloaded with extracurricular activities, including sports and clubs. "They're very busy," Pope says. "Some kids have up to 40 hours a week — a full-time job's worth — of extracurricular activities." And homework is yet one more commitment on top of all the others.

"Homework has perennially acted as a source of stress for students, so that piece of it is not new," Galloway says. "But especially in upper-middle-class communities, where the focus is on getting ahead, I think the pressure on students has been ratcheted up."

Yet homework can be a problem at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum as well. Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, Internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs, says Lea Theodore, PhD, a professor of school psychology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. They are less likely to have computers or a quiet place to do homework in peace.

"Homework can highlight those inequities," she says.

Quantity vs. quality

One point researchers agree on is that for all students, homework quality matters. But too many kids are feeling a lack of engagement with their take-home assignments, many experts say. In Pope and Galloway's research, only 20 percent to 30 percent of students said they felt their homework was useful or meaningful.

"Students are assigned a lot of busywork. They're naming it as a primary stressor, but they don't feel it's supporting their learning," Galloway says.

"Homework that's busywork is not good for anyone," Cooper agrees. Still, he says, different subjects call for different kinds of assignments. "Things like vocabulary and spelling are learned through practice. Other kinds of courses require more integration of material and drawing on different skills."

But critics say those skills can be developed with many fewer hours of homework each week. Why assign 50 math problems, Pope asks, when 10 would be just as constructive? One Advanced Placement biology teacher she worked with through Challenge Success experimented with cutting his homework assignments by a third, and then by half. "Test scores didn't go down," she says. "You can have a rigorous course and not have a crazy homework load."

Still, changing the culture of homework won't be easy. Teachers-to-be get little instruction in homework during their training, Pope says. And despite some vocal parents arguing that kids bring home too much homework, many others get nervous if they think their child doesn't have enough. "Teachers feel pressured to give homework because parents expect it to come home," says Galloway. "When it doesn't, there's this idea that the school might not be doing its job."

Galloway argues teachers and school administrators need to set clear goals when it comes to homework — and parents and students should be in on the discussion, too. "It should be a broader conversation within the community, asking what's the purpose of homework? Why are we giving it? Who is it serving? Who is it not serving?"

Until schools and communities agree to take a hard look at those questions, those backpacks full of take-home assignments will probably keep stirring up more feelings than facts.

Further reading

• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1–62. doi: 10.3102/00346543076001001
• Galloway, M., Connor, J., & Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. The Journal of Experimental Education, 81 (4), 490–510. doi: 10.1080/00220973.2012.745469
• Pope, D., Brown, M., & Miles, S. (2015). Overloaded and underprepared: Strategies for stronger schools and healthy, successful kids . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

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Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

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August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Is Homework a Waste of Time? Teachers Weigh In

• Share article

The debate over homework rages on.

In response to an Opinion essay by a teacher titled “ What Do You Mean My Kid Doesn’t Have Homework? ”, many Facebook users took to the comments section to voice their perspectives on whether assigning homework is outdated and unnecessary—especially during a pandemic—or whether it’s a critical step to cultivating learning.

The benefits of homework have long been disputed, especially at the elementary school level. In 2018, Marva Hinton wrote about how homework was assigned at early grades and the potential effects on these young students. Some schools embraced homework, like Arlington Traditional School, a countywide elementary school in Arlington, Va., where kindergartners were expected to complete a minimum of 30 minutes of homework a night, Monday through Thursday. But some teachers such as Cathy Vatterott, a professor of education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the author of Rethinking Homework worried that adjusting to school routines combined with homework could sour young students on school.

But what about the benefits for older students? In a 2019 article , Education Week Assistant Editor Stephen Sawchuk unpacked the results of a Center for American Progress analysis, which found that while much of the homework assigned to the students in the study aligned with the Common Core State Standards, it did not contribute to building more difficult skills called for in the standards, like analyzing or extending their knowledge to new problems.

Beyond considering the efficacy of homework, the debate over how much time students should spend daily on take-home assignments dates back to the early 1900s. The public furor even led some state lawmakers to ban homework entirely at one point. Multiple studies over the years have examined different angles of the homework debate, including just how much homework students were assigned. In 2003, a pair of national studies found that most American students spent less than an hour daily on homework, and the workload was no bigger than it was 50 years prior.

“There is this view in the popular media that there has been this terrible burden of homework on children, and that the homework is increasing,” said Tom Loveless, the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution to Education Week’s Debra Viadero in a 2003 article . “That is not the case.”

Fast-forward to the present, teachers and students alike might find themselves at another crossroads in the homework debate. The pandemic brought with it the advent of strategies like “flipped learning” , which relies heavily on homework as an integral component of the lesson. While this might work for some, many students grew weary of the reliance on homework during remote and hybrid learning. This is on top of the potential equity issues arising from lack of internet access affecting students’ ability to complete the steady stream of homework being assigned, and the uptick in mental health issues in students .

So what do teachers really think about homework? Here’s what they had to say in response to the recently resurfaced essay by Samantha Hulsman.

A Disconnect Between Parents and Educators

“i teach 1st grade. i had parents ask for homework. i explained that i don’t give homework. home time is family time. time to play, cook, explore and spend time together. i do send books home, but there is no requirement or checklist for reading them. read them, enjoy them, and return them when your child is ready for more. i explained that as a parent myself, i know they are busy—and what a waste of energy it is to sit and force their kids to do work at home—when they could use that time to form relationships and build a loving home. something kids need more than a few math problems a week.”.

- Colleen S.

“I tried the ‘no homework’ policy one year and received so much pushback from my parents that I began sending home a weekly packet. I pass it out on Monday and it is due on Friday. Parents [are] happy, I’m happy, and life goes on. I say pick your battles. Now, I refuse to give packets over school breaks (winter/spring). If a parent asks, I simply tell them to have them work on any app that we use in class.”

“i literally only assign homework because some parents always make a huge deal of it if i don’t.”, “parents are the driving force behind homework ... they demand it and will complain about not receiving it even after explaining your philosophy of education and providing them with pedagogy that refutes the ‘benefits’ of it.”, homework can be useful for certain subjects or grades, “as a teacher of nearly 40 years, i believe homework has its place. especially in math math needs to be practiced to learn it. i don’t believe in giving homework just because. i think it should be purposeful.”.

- Sandra S.

“For those leading the charge against homework, please think about the expectation for students beyond your classroom. If you teach elementary school, will they be asked to do homework in middle school, high school, and beyond? If so, organization, time management, and study skills are not so easily learned at a later age, when the expectation has never been present. I can’t imagine being a student, who enters college, having never had the expectation of nightly HW.”

- Bobbie M.

Is Homework Actually Helpful for Learning?

Some agree that at its core, homework is practice, which is a needed element to achieving learning.

“Homework is practice. Practice the skills we learned about in class so we can review and add to them. My instrumental students are required to practice every day. When they don’t it’s evident.”

Others aren’t as convinced it’s actually a good tool for assessing comprehension.

“As a teacher, if the kids were assigned homework, guess when the papers were graded ... After discovering a Mom had been doing the homework and was making failing grades ... I gave it up ... taught 25 years without it and my students did much better ...”

- Martha H.

Heightens Equity Issues

“no homework ever it is unnecessary it is so elitist and ableist and teaches kids that it is expected to take work home after hours of a job. nope never”, “homework just further separates the students. those who have parents home who understand the work, or can afford a tutor will do so. families already struggling financially tend not to have parents home to help and cannot afford tutors.”.

- Rebecca J.

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Investigating the Effects of Homework on Student Learning and Academic Performance

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Homework’s implications for the well-being of primary school pupils—perceptions of children, parents, and teachers.

1. Introduction

1.1. homework—perspectives of students, teachers, and parents, 1.2. homework practices in primary education in romania, 1.3. present study, 2. methodology, 2.1. design, data collection methods, and procedures, 2.2. participants, 2.3. data analysis, 3. research findings, 3.1. homework not liked by students.

3.2. Students’ Negative Reactions When Doing Homework

3.3. Homework That Makes Children Feel Good

3.4. Homework Students Like

3.5. Checking and Assessing Homework

3.6. Suggestions for Improving Educational Practices Regarding Homework

4. Discussions

5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional reviewer board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Negru, I.; Sava, S. Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers. Educ. Sci. 2023 , 13 , 996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

Negru I, Sava S. Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers. Education Sciences . 2023; 13(10):996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

Negru, Iasmina, and Simona Sava. 2023. "Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers" Education Sciences 13, no. 10: 996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

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The Cult of Homework

America’s devotion to the practice stems in part from the fact that it’s what today’s parents and teachers grew up with themselves.

America has long had a fickle relationship with homework. A century or so ago, progressive reformers argued that it made kids unduly stressed , which later led in some cases to district-level bans on it for all grades under seventh. This anti-homework sentiment faded, though, amid mid-century fears that the U.S. was falling behind the Soviet Union (which led to more homework), only to resurface in the 1960s and ’70s, when a more open culture came to see homework as stifling play and creativity (which led to less). But this didn’t last either: In the ’80s, government researchers blamed America’s schools for its economic troubles and recommended ramping homework up once more.

The 21st century has so far been a homework-heavy era, with American teenagers now averaging about twice as much time spent on homework each day as their predecessors did in the 1990s . Even little kids are asked to bring school home with them. A 2015 study , for instance, found that kindergarteners, who researchers tend to agree shouldn’t have any take-home work, were spending about 25 minutes a night on it.

But not without pushback. As many children, not to mention their parents and teachers, are drained by their daily workload, some schools and districts are rethinking how homework should work—and some teachers are doing away with it entirely. They’re reviewing the research on homework (which, it should be noted, is contested) and concluding that it’s time to revisit the subject.

Read: My daughter’s homework is killing me

Hillsborough, California, an affluent suburb of San Francisco, is one district that has changed its ways. The district, which includes three elementary schools and a middle school, worked with teachers and convened panels of parents in order to come up with a homework policy that would allow students more unscheduled time to spend with their families or to play. In August 2017, it rolled out an updated policy, which emphasized that homework should be “meaningful” and banned due dates that fell on the day after a weekend or a break.

“The first year was a bit bumpy,” says Louann Carlomagno, the district’s superintendent. She says the adjustment was at times hard for the teachers, some of whom had been doing their job in a similar fashion for a quarter of a century. Parents’ expectations were also an issue. Carlomagno says they took some time to “realize that it was okay not to have an hour of homework for a second grader—that was new.”

Most of the way through year two, though, the policy appears to be working more smoothly. “The students do seem to be less stressed based on conversations I’ve had with parents,” Carlomagno says. It also helps that the students performed just as well on the state standardized test last year as they have in the past.

Earlier this year, the district of Somerville, Massachusetts, also rewrote its homework policy, reducing the amount of homework its elementary and middle schoolers may receive. In grades six through eight, for example, homework is capped at an hour a night and can only be assigned two to three nights a week.

Jack Schneider, an education professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell whose daughter attends school in Somerville, is generally pleased with the new policy. But, he says, it’s part of a bigger, worrisome pattern. “The origin for this was general parental dissatisfaction, which not surprisingly was coming from a particular demographic,” Schneider says. “Middle-class white parents tend to be more vocal about concerns about homework … They feel entitled enough to voice their opinions.”

Schneider is all for revisiting taken-for-granted practices like homework, but thinks districts need to take care to be inclusive in that process. “I hear approximately zero middle-class white parents talking about how homework done best in grades K through two actually strengthens the connection between home and school for young people and their families,” he says. Because many of these parents already feel connected to their school community, this benefit of homework can seem redundant. “They don’t need it,” Schneider says, “so they’re not advocating for it.”

That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that homework is more vital in low-income districts. In fact, there are different, but just as compelling, reasons it can be burdensome in these communities as well. Allison Wienhold, who teaches high-school Spanish in the small town of Dunkerton, Iowa, has phased out homework assignments over the past three years. Her thinking: Some of her students, she says, have little time for homework because they’re working 30 hours a week or responsible for looking after younger siblings.

As educators reduce or eliminate the homework they assign, it’s worth asking what amount and what kind of homework is best for students. It turns out that there’s some disagreement about this among researchers, who tend to fall in one of two camps.

In the first camp is Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Cooper conducted a review of the existing research on homework in the mid-2000s , and found that, up to a point, the amount of homework students reported doing correlates with their performance on in-class tests. This correlation, the review found, was stronger for older students than for younger ones.

This conclusion is generally accepted among educators, in part because it’s compatible with “the 10-minute rule,” a rule of thumb popular among teachers suggesting that the proper amount of homework is approximately 10 minutes per night, per grade level—that is, 10 minutes a night for first graders, 20 minutes a night for second graders, and so on, up to two hours a night for high schoolers.

In Cooper’s eyes, homework isn’t overly burdensome for the typical American kid. He points to a 2014 Brookings Institution report that found “little evidence that the homework load has increased for the average student”; onerous amounts of homework, it determined, are indeed out there, but relatively rare. Moreover, the report noted that most parents think their children get the right amount of homework, and that parents who are worried about under-assigning outnumber those who are worried about over-assigning. Cooper says that those latter worries tend to come from a small number of communities with “concerns about being competitive for the most selective colleges and universities.”

According to Alfie Kohn, squarely in camp two, most of the conclusions listed in the previous three paragraphs are questionable. Kohn, the author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing , considers homework to be a “reliable extinguisher of curiosity,” and has several complaints with the evidence that Cooper and others cite in favor of it. Kohn notes, among other things, that Cooper’s 2006 meta-analysis doesn’t establish causation, and that its central correlation is based on children’s (potentially unreliable) self-reporting of how much time they spend doing homework. (Kohn’s prolific writing on the subject alleges numerous other methodological faults.)

In fact, other correlations make a compelling case that homework doesn’t help. Some countries whose students regularly outperform American kids on standardized tests, such as Japan and Denmark, send their kids home with less schoolwork , while students from some countries with higher homework loads than the U.S., such as Thailand and Greece, fare worse on tests. (Of course, international comparisons can be fraught because so many factors, in education systems and in societies at large, might shape students’ success.)

Kohn also takes issue with the way achievement is commonly assessed. “If all you want is to cram kids’ heads with facts for tomorrow’s tests that they’re going to forget by next week, yeah, if you give them more time and make them do the cramming at night, that could raise the scores,” he says. “But if you’re interested in kids who know how to think or enjoy learning, then homework isn’t merely ineffective, but counterproductive.”

His concern is, in a way, a philosophical one. “The practice of homework assumes that only academic growth matters, to the point that having kids work on that most of the school day isn’t enough,” Kohn says. What about homework’s effect on quality time spent with family? On long-term information retention? On critical-thinking skills? On social development? On success later in life? On happiness? The research is quiet on these questions.

Another problem is that research tends to focus on homework’s quantity rather than its quality, because the former is much easier to measure than the latter. While experts generally agree that the substance of an assignment matters greatly (and that a lot of homework is uninspiring busywork), there isn’t a catchall rule for what’s best—the answer is often specific to a certain curriculum or even an individual student.

Given that homework’s benefits are so narrowly defined (and even then, contested), it’s a bit surprising that assigning so much of it is often a classroom default, and that more isn’t done to make the homework that is assigned more enriching. A number of things are preserving this state of affairs—things that have little to do with whether homework helps students learn.

Jack Schneider, the Massachusetts parent and professor, thinks it’s important to consider the generational inertia of the practice. “The vast majority of parents of public-school students themselves are graduates of the public education system,” he says. “Therefore, their views of what is legitimate have been shaped already by the system that they would ostensibly be critiquing.” In other words, many parents’ own history with homework might lead them to expect the same for their children, and anything less is often taken as an indicator that a school or a teacher isn’t rigorous enough. (This dovetails with—and complicates—the finding that most parents think their children have the right amount of homework.)

Barbara Stengel, an education professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, brought up two developments in the educational system that might be keeping homework rote and unexciting. The first is the importance placed in the past few decades on standardized testing, which looms over many public-school classroom decisions and frequently discourages teachers from trying out more creative homework assignments. “They could do it, but they’re afraid to do it, because they’re getting pressure every day about test scores,” Stengel says.

Second, she notes that the profession of teaching, with its relatively low wages and lack of autonomy, struggles to attract and support some of the people who might reimagine homework, as well as other aspects of education. “Part of why we get less interesting homework is because some of the people who would really have pushed the limits of that are no longer in teaching,” she says.

“In general, we have no imagination when it comes to homework,” Stengel says. She wishes teachers had the time and resources to remake homework into something that actually engages students. “If we had kids reading—anything, the sports page, anything that they’re able to read—that’s the best single thing. If we had kids going to the zoo, if we had kids going to parks after school, if we had them doing all of those things, their test scores would improve. But they’re not. They’re going home and doing homework that is not expanding what they think about.”

“Exploratory” is one word Mike Simpson used when describing the types of homework he’d like his students to undertake. Simpson is the head of the Stone Independent School, a tiny private high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that opened in 2017. “We were lucky to start a school a year and a half ago,” Simpson says, “so it’s been easy to say we aren’t going to assign worksheets, we aren’t going assign regurgitative problem sets.” For instance, a half-dozen students recently built a 25-foot trebuchet on campus.

Simpson says he thinks it’s a shame that the things students have to do at home are often the least fulfilling parts of schooling: “When our students can’t make the connection between the work they’re doing at 11 o’clock at night on a Tuesday to the way they want their lives to be, I think we begin to lose the plot.”

When I talked with other teachers who did homework makeovers in their classrooms, I heard few regrets. Brandy Young, a second-grade teacher in Joshua, Texas, stopped assigning take-home packets of worksheets three years ago, and instead started asking her students to do 20 minutes of pleasure reading a night. She says she’s pleased with the results, but she’s noticed something funny. “Some kids,” she says, “really do like homework.” She’s started putting out a bucket of it for students to draw from voluntarily—whether because they want an additional challenge or something to pass the time at home.

Chris Bronke, a high-school English teacher in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, told me something similar. This school year, he eliminated homework for his class of freshmen, and now mostly lets students study on their own or in small groups during class time. It’s usually up to them what they work on each day, and Bronke has been impressed by how they’ve managed their time.

In fact, some of them willingly spend time on assignments at home, whether because they’re particularly engaged, because they prefer to do some deeper thinking outside school, or because they needed to spend time in class that day preparing for, say, a biology test the following period. “They’re making meaningful decisions about their time that I don’t think education really ever gives students the experience, nor the practice, of doing,” Bronke said.

The typical prescription offered by those overwhelmed with homework is to assign less of it—to subtract. But perhaps a more useful approach, for many classrooms, would be to create homework only when teachers and students believe it’s actually needed to further the learning that takes place in class—to start with nothing, and add as necessary.

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Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

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Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

• How long will it take to complete?
• Have all learners been considered?
• Will an assignment encourage future success?
• Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
• Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

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Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

* Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

* Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

* Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Media Contacts

Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected]

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Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression among Teachers: A Scoping Review

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Background: Worldwide, stress and burnout continue to be a problem among teachers, leading to anxiety and depression. Burnout may adversely affect teachers’ health and is a risk factor for poor physical and mental well-being. Determining the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers is essential for addressing this public health concern. Objective: To determine the extent of the current literature on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Method: This scoping review was performed using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews). Relevant search terms were used to determine the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Articles were identified using MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Data Base), APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center). The articles were extracted, reviewed, collated, and thematically analyzed, and the results were summarized and reported. Results: When only clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) psychological conditions among teachers were considered, the prevalence of burnout ranged from 25.12% to 74%, stress ranged from 8.3% to 87.1%, anxiety ranged from 38% to 41.2% and depression ranged from 4% to 77%. The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, marital status, and school (organizational) and work-related factors including the years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, and the subject taught. Conclusion: Teaching is challenging and yet one of the most rewarding professions, but several factors correlate with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Highlighting these factors is the first step in recognizing the magnitude of the issues encountered by those in the teaching profession. Implementation of a school-based awareness and intervention program is crucial to resolve the early signs of teacher stress and burnout to avoid future deterioration.

1. Introduction

The teaching profession can be highly stressful, and this stress may lead to reduced job satisfaction, burnout, and poor work performance. Stress is a normal response to upsetting or threatening events and becomes pathological when chronic [ 1 ]. Chronic stress can impede day-to-day functioning and emotional balance, and it is a risk factor for developing other psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety and depression [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Prolonged teacher stress negatively correlates with job satisfaction and positively correlates with intending to leave the teaching profession. It may also result in withdrawal behaviour, including physically or psychologically leaving the work setting [ 4 , 5 ]. Chronic stress may also lead to inappropriate anger and increased alcohol and drug consumption [ 6 , 7 ], and it can cause an individual to experience excessive anxiety, mental fatigue, and burnout, while also predicting increased depression [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. According to Maslach, stress occurs when a person perceives an external demand as exceeding their capability to deal with it [ 11 ]. Teacher stress can be associated with demoralization, and a disrupted sense of self-consistency [ 8 , 9 ]. Canadian teachers, like their global counterparts, also experience high-stress levels. A study by Biron et al. showed that the proportion of Quebec teachers who reported a high level of psychological distress was twice as high (40%) as that reported for a Quebec-wide general population sample (20%) [ 12 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, survey results indicated that nearly 70% of respondents worried about their mental health and well-being [ 13 ]. Meanwhile, a cross-sectional study showed that two-thirds of teachers perceived stress at work at least 50% of the time [ 14 ]. Teacher workload is one of the most common sources of stress [ 15 ]; however, there is a lack of systematic understanding about how stress is measured, its prevalence globally, what factors lead to stress and what causes the associated negative outcomes among teachers.

Burnout is considered a stress-related problem for individuals who work in interpersonally oriented occupations such as healthcare and education [ 16 , 17 ]. According to Shukla et al., burnout among professionals such as teachers can result from excessive demands on their energy, strength and resources [ 7 ]. There is increasing evidence that burnout as a negative stress response represents a risk factor not only for depression but also for cardiovascular and other somatic diseases [ 17 ]. Researchers conceptualize burnout as having three interrelated components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ]. Emotional exhaustion represents emotional depletion and a loss of energy. Depersonalization is the interpersonal dimension of burnout. It refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to other people. There is evidence that job satisfaction is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and positively associated with self-perceived accomplishment, but not significantly related to cynicism [ 18 ]. Additionally, reduced accomplishment describes the self-evaluation dimension of burnout, including feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work [ 6 , 16 , 18 , 19 ]. Mild burnout involves short-lived irritability, fatigue, worry, or frustration. Moderate burnout has the same symptoms but lasts for at least two weeks, whereas severe burnout may also entail physical ailments such as ulcers, chronic back pain, and migraine headaches [ 20 ]. Research suggests that workplace improvements to reduce burnout could prevent adverse sequelae, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare expenditures [ 21 ]. More systematic research is needed to further understand the factors in the workplace to address burnout and improve teacher health outcomes.

Anxiety and perceived stress are predicted by workload, student behaviour, and employment conditions [ 22 ]. According to Kamal et al., a considerable lack of administrative support is the single biggest factor increasing anxiety [ 23 ]. Those with low job satisfaction are more susceptible to experiencing burnout, high anxiety levels and depression [ 24 , 25 ]. Teacher stress contributes to teacher anxiety and may trigger anger, further intensifying anxiety [ 5 , 26 ]. The published literature shows that participants who reported high anxiety levels also reported high burnout levels [ 27 ]. Moreover, some studies report a very high prevalence of stress (100%), anxiety (67.5%), and depression (23.2%) among teachers [ 28 ], prompting calls for research and interventions to address this critical issue [ 23 ]. Despite this, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering anxiety symptoms among educators and how stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression relate to each other.

Depression can lead to numerous deficiencies and is considered the worldwide primary cause of work disability [ 29 , 30 ]. Depression among teachers can also significantly impact their health, productivity, and function [ 31 ], with particularly pervasive effects on personal and professional life [ 32 ]. Individuals with depression often experience difficulties meeting interpersonal, time-management, and productivity demands. They may also encounter psychological problems, decreased work quality, absences due to illness, and increased work disability, all of which can profoundly impact worker productivity [ 30 , 31 , 33 ]. One study found that teachers’ most robust major depressive disorder (MDD) predictors included a low job satisfaction, high perceived stress, somatization disorder, and anxiety disorder [ 31 ]. Like with anxiety symptoms, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering depression symptoms among educators and how depression relates to other psychological conditions including stress, burnout, and anxiety.

Currently, the authors are planning a study to assess the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary, junior high and high school teachers in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ]. This planned study will also evaluate the effectiveness of a daily supportive text message intervention, the Wellness4Teachers program, to address stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary and high school teachers in Canada [ 34 ]. Within this context, this scoping review aims to identify and summarize the literature on the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression and to determine the problem’s extent in different jurisdictional contexts. The review also aims to identify the gaps in knowledge for future research. Identifying the correlates of these emotional and mental conditions may also facilitate the research and development of early interventions which can be implemented to address this phenomenon.

2.1. Study Design

This scoping review was planned and conducted in adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) statement [ 35 ]. We adopted a comprehensive search strategy that allows replicability, reliability, and transparency. This scoping review also followed Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage approach to scoping reviews: identifying the research question, searching for relevant studies, the study selection, charting the data, and collating, summarizing and reporting the results [ 36 ].

2.2. Developing the Research Question

Our research question was: “What are the prevalence and correlates of primary and secondary teachers’ stress, burnout anxiety and depression in different jurisdictions?”

2.3. Information Sources and Search Strategy

The search was performed by using relevant terms to identify and select articles in the following databases: MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online; Ovid MEDLINE ALL), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database; Ovid interface), APA PsycINFO (Ovid interface), CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost interface), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center (EBSCOhost interface). The search consisted of keywords representing the concepts of stress, burnout, depression and anxiety among teachers and their correlates and prevalence. The specific MeSH terms, keyword and descriptors included: (depress* OR depression OR “depressive disorder” OR “depressive symptoms” OR “major depressive disorder” OR anxiety OR “anxiety disorder” OR “generalized anxiety disorder”) AND (burnout OR “burn out” OR stress OR “occupational stress” OR “mental exhaustion” OR “emotional exhaustion”) AND (teacher* OR educator* OR tutor* OR schoolteacher* OR “school teacher*”). The database search was completed on the 20th of February 2022.

2.4. Selection of Studies

The search strategy was developed based on specific inclusion criteria. Articles were considered eligible for inclusion in this scoping review if they addressed either the prevalence or correlates of burnout, stress, depression, or anxiety among teachers or educators. The articles were limited to original, peer-reviewed quantitative articles written in English. Articles were excluded from the review if the study participants were tertiary or university teachers or students. Studies on interventions’ outcomes, case reports, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, opinion pieces, commentaries, editorials, or grey literature such as non-peer-reviewed graduate student theses, non-research articles or conference reports were excluded. The search was not limited by publication year. Two researchers independently reviewed the citations during the title, abstract screening, and full-text review phase. All discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensus. We identified 190 articles for full-text review, of which 120 articles were excluded. The PRISMA flow diagram summarizes this information in detail ( Figure 1 ).

PRISMA flow chart.

2.5. Data Charting and Extraction Process

The research team extracted data for each selected article according to the following domains: author(s) name, year of publication, country of study, study design, assessment tools used, sample size (N), age, main findings, and conclusion.

2.6. Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting the Results

This study presents an overview of existing evidence relating to the prevalence and the correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. All the relevant data were organized into tables and validated by at least two team members. The characteristics and results reported in each included article were summarized. In addition, the prevalence range for the psychological conditions in high-quality studies were determined after identifying the high-quality studies for each psychological condition in this scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies [ 37 ]. The JBI checklist includes: studies with an adequate sample size, studies which provided an appropriate sample frame to address the target population, studies with an adequate response rate, studies which had a high response rate, studies in which a systematic approach was used for the data capture to ensure the study sample was representative of the study population, and studies with an adequate statistical analysis.

3.1. Study Characteristics

The search strategy identified 10,493 citations. Covidence software [ 38 ] was used to automatically remove 5711 duplicates. One hundred and ninety articles remained for a full-text screening, and seventy of these were eligible for inclusion. Overall, 67 articles were quantitative cross-sectional studies. One study was a mixed quantitative and qualitative study, and two studies were randomized controlled trials. The seventy articles included a total of 143,288 participants, who were all teachers. The sample size for an individual article ranged from 50 to 51,782 participants, with an age range from 18 years to 75 years. The minimum response rate was 13% and the maximum was 97.4% with the median response rate of 77%. The articles included studies from 1974 to 2022. Most studies (79%) were published between 2007 and 2022, and 21% were from 1974 to 2006. Most of the studies were conducted in Europe (40%), followed by Asia (30%) and North America (19%). In contrast, African, South America and Oceanian studies represented 6%, 1% and 4%, respectively, as shown in Figure 2 . One study [ 39 ] was conducted across multiple continents.

Summary of studies by continents.

From Figure 3 : Most studies reported on multiple outcomes, indicating the interrelatedness of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Some articles reported on a single outcome, such as stress (N = 9), burnout (N = 8), or depression (N = 6). Burnout and depression (N = 15), stress and depression (N = 5), burnout and anxiety (N = 2), anxiety and depression (N = 4), and stress and anxiety (N = 4), were commonly paired outcomes. One study (N = 1) specifically examined the paired outcomes of burnout and stress. In addition, the outcome of the interaction between three or four of these psychological problems were explored by some studies: anxiety, depression, and stress (N = 10); anxiety, burnout and depression (N = 1); stress, burnout and anxiety (N = 1); stress, burnout, and depression (N = 2). Finally, two articles reported the interaction between stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression.

Distribution of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among the included studies.

Figure 4 shows that depression was the most reported psychological problem among the included studies and the least reported was anxiety.

Number of studies reporting each psychological problem.

Most of the articles (27 of 32; 84%) used Maslach’s Burnout Inventory to explore the three interrelated components of burnout. Five of thirty-two (16%) studies used the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Inventory, or the Teacher Burnout Scale. The most frequently utilized scales for measuring depressive or anxiety symptoms (55 studies) were the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (N = 14; 25%), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), (N = 10 18%), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), (N = 9; 16%), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), (N = 6; 11%). The less popular scales included the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Manifest Anxiety Scale. For the 29 studies measuring stress, the most common scales utilized were the (DASS) (N = 9; 31%), the Teacher Stress Inventory (N = 5; 17%), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (N = 3; 10%). Other scales included: the Occupational Stress Inventory, Job Stress Inventory, Ongoing Stressor Scale (OSS), Episodic Stressor Scale, and Bruno’s Teacher Stress.

3.2. Prevalence and Correlates of Burnout, Stress, Anxiety and Depression

The prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression as identified in the literature search are summarized in Table A1 and Table A2 in Appendix A .

3.3. Prevalence of Stress

The reported stress prevalence rates were heterogenous, which may reflect, in part, the use of different stress measures. The prevalence of stress in all forms ranged from 6.0% to 100% [ 28 , 40 ], with a median of about 32.5%. In addition, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence ranges from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 6.0% [ 40 ], 66.0% [ 41 ] and 10.7%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 42 ], 100% [ 28 ] and 33.9%.

Early studies of teacher stress found a relatively high degree of stress. For example, 76% [ 43 ] and 87.1% [ 44 ] of teachers described their stress levels at their school as moderate or significant, respectively. In some studies, 45.6% reported “much stress” [ 44 ] or “almost unbearable” stress (20%) [ 43 ]. Another study echoed these findings, reporting 32% ‘slightly’ stressed and 67% ‘extremely’ stressed teachers, with only 1% indicating no stress [ 45 ].

Earlier studies on teacher stress are consistent with more recent findings, indicating teacher stress is a long-standing issue and is challenging to tackle. A 2021 study completed during the COVID-19 pandemic reported a 6.0% prevalence of severe to highly severe stress among teachers [ 40 ]. This is similar to another recent but pre-pandemic study which reported a 7.0% prevalence of “severe to extremely severe” stress, a 32.3% prevalence of stress, and 25.3% prevalence of mild to moderate stress [ 42 ].

3.4. Prevalence of Burnout

Published studies have identified three different burnout profiles among teachers with the prevalence ranging from 25.12% to 48.37% [ 11 , 46 ]. These are, (1) groups of teachers with predominantly low levels of emotional exhaustion and high levels of personal accomplishment, (2) teachers with high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and (3) teachers with low levels of depersonalization and personal accomplishment [ 46 ]. These groups show the combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ].

Variable prevalence of burnout and psychological distress have been reported among teachers [ 47 ], with the burnout prevalence at all levels ranging from a low of 2.81% [ 7 ] to a high of 70.9% [ 48 ], with a median of 28.8% ( Table A1 ). The lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 3.1% [ 48 ], 70.9% [ 48 ] and 27.6%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 2.81%, 63.43% [ 7 ] and 25.09%.

In an early study, only 11% of the teachers were classified as burnt out, and more than half (68.5%) of the teachers reported they did not experience any burnout [ 49 ]. Some studies reported burnout prevalence in the three subdimensions [ 50 ]. For instance, four studies reported a burnout prevalence of 11% to 40% for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and for reduced personal accomplishment [ 3 , 46 , 49 , 50 ]. Studies have also reported that 18.3% to 34.9% of teachers may be at risk of or are threatened by burnout syndrome [ 3 , 25 , 51 ]. Higher burnout scores and subdimensions such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization burnout were significantly higher among female teachers than male teachers [ 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Likewise, a higher percentage of males (59.38%) showed low burnout than did females (53%) [ 54 ]; however, other studies have reported contradictory results where males had a slightly higher burnout prevalence of 56.0% than females of 53.0% [ 55 ] and 31.88% of males and fewer females (25%) reported a lack of personal accomplishment [ 54 ].

There are also studies reporting various levels of burnout ranging from low/no burnout (58.12%) to moderate (2.81% to 70.9%) and severe levels of burnout (3.1% to 33.3%) [ 7 , 25 , 47 ]. Regarding the subjects taught by teachers, science stream and science teachers reported experiencing slightly more burnout (14.38% to 26.26%) than arts stream and art teachers, who reported an average burnout prevalence of 12.5% to 25% [ 7 ].

3.5. Prevalence of Anxiety

The anxiety symptoms prevalence ranged from 4.9% to 68.0% [ 42 , 56 ], with a median prevalence of 26.0%. Furthermore, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 10.5% [ 57 ] 66.0% [ 41 ] and 38.9%. Similarly, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 28 ], 68.0% [ 42 ] and 26.0%.

Early studies indicated that teachers’ anxiety prevalence ranged from 26% for borderline anxiety, 36% for minimal or no anxiety, and 38% for clinically significant anxiety [ 45 ]. Recent studies have reported a similar prevalence for low anxiety at 17.6%, mild at 23.2% [ 28 ] and 7.0% to 23.3% for severe to extremely severe anxiety [ 28 , 39 , 41 ]. Another study reported an anxiety prevalence of 43% among teachers. The prevalence of anxiety did not change significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most teachers (56.2%) reporting no change in their anxiety during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic, and only 4.9% of teachers reported an increase in anxiety levels from the baseline during the first week of the 2020–2021 school year [ 58 ].

3.6. Prevalence of Depression

The prevalence of depression among teachers ranged from 0.6% to 85.7% [ 48 , 59 ], with a median of 30.7%. The lowest, highest, and median depression prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.6% [ 48 ], 85.7% [ 59 ] and 23.5%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median depression prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.7% [ 28 ], 85% [ 60 ] and 24.1%.

Early studies showed a highly varied prevalence of depression, with 79% of teachers scoring at the low or no depression levels in one study. This study also reported that 17% of teachers had borderline depression scores, and 4% had scores that indicated clinical depression [ 45 ]. Studies from 2008 onwards identified that the prevalence of depression ranged from 17.86% to 49.1% [ 3 , 41 , 55 , 60 , 61 ] and the prevalence of severe to extremely severe depression ranged from 0.7 to 9.9% [ 42 ], whilst the prevalence of mild depression ranged from 20 to 43.9% [ 41 , 42 , 60 , 62 ]. Soria-Saucedo et al. reported a particularly high prevalence (16%) of severe depression symptoms among teachers [ 61 ]. Depression was also found to range from 45% to 84.6%, depending on the educational level and teaching experience, and was highest among those with a lower education level, followed by teachers with more teaching experience [ 42 ].

Studies during the pandemic demonstrated higher rates of mild depression but similar rates of severe depression symptoms among teachers. In one study, 58.9% of teachers had mild depression, 3.5% had moderate, and 0.6% had severe depression. [ 48 ]. Another study reported that 3.2% of teachers had severe to extremely severe depression [ 40 ]. According to Keyes, ‘flourishing’ denotes being filled with positive emotion and functioning well psychologically and socially while ‘languishing’ in life signifies the individual has poor mental health with low well-being [ 59 , 62 ]. Capone and Petrillo reported that 38.7% of ‘flourishing’ teachers reported a lower prevalence of depression but higher levels of job satisfaction. A severe rating of depression was also reported by 85.7% of ‘languishing’ teachers [ 59 ].

3.7. Prevalence Range and Median for Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression Reported in High Quality Studies

After applying the JBI checklist [ 37 ] to identify high-quality studies, the clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) burnout among teachers recorded by three studies ranged from 25.12% to 74% [ 25 , 46 , 47 ]. Similarly, three studies reported stress at clinically meaningful levels which included severe, extremely severe, moderate to high or very stressful, and a great deal of stress, with a prevalence ranging from 8.3% to 87.1% [ 43 , 44 , 57 ]. Likewise, two studies reported the prevalence of clinically meaningful anxiety among teachers ranging from 38% to 41.2% [ 45 , 57 ]. Furthermore, five studies [ 44 , 47 , 57 , 63 , 64 ] reported the prevalence of depression in clinically significant levels, which included terminologies such as major, moderate, moderate to severe, and extremely severe depression symptoms. The lowest prevalence in this category was 4% [ 45 ] and the highest category was 77% [ 65 ]. Finally, the median prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among these studies were, respectively, 67.0%, 60.9%, 39.6%, and 14.%.

3.8. Correlates of Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, as extracted from Table A1 and Table A2 , are summarized in Table 1 . A wide range of variables are significantly associated with teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety and depression and can be divided into socio-demographics, school, organizational and professional factors, and social and other factors, including intrapersonal factors. The most reported correlates were sex, age, gender, marital status, job satisfaction, subject taught and years of teaching [ 28 , 40 , 57 , 63 , 66 , 67 ]. Socio-demographic factors, such as age and sex, and work-related factors correlate with depression, anxiety and stress [ 42 ]. Emotional exhaustion is correlated with age, gender and marital status. [ 39 , 52 , 53 , 68 ]. Other studies, however, refute these, indicating that no significant demographic variable correlations were found between burnout and depression, and that depressive symptoms in men and women were similar [ 64 , 69 ]. Capone et al. also noted that all the school climate factors, such as social support, were negatively related to depression [ 70 ]. Higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ].

Demographic, school and professional correlates of burnout, stress, anxiety and depression.

Organizational factors associated with anxiety included: work overload, time pressures causing teachers to work during their free time, and role conflict. There were significant correlations between the reported anxiety and those stressors relating to pupils and parents [ 45 ]. In addition, interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints and workload were reported to result in depression through increasing job burnout [ 73 ]. Furthermore, depressive symptoms correlated with teaching special needs students and had a significant and robust relationship with the general burnout factor [ 50 ]. Self-perceived accomplishment was also positively associated with autonomy and negatively associated with low student motivation [ 18 ]. Personal accomplishment had a significant positive relationship with the number of teaching hours per week [ 40 ]. On the contrary, a cross-sectional study by Baka reported that increased work hours are usually accompanied by job demands, job burnout, and depression [ 73 ]. Job strain, job demand and job insecurity all showed positive associations with depressive symptoms [ 80 , 94 ]. Work-related factors, such as workload, were also correlated with stress, burnout, depression, and anxiety [ 42 , 73 ].

Furthermore, the educational level and teaching experience also predict depression. Depression was highest among teachers with a lower education followed by teachers with the most teaching experience [ 42 ]. Teacher stress was reported to be significantly associated with psychological distress, and social support could moderate the influence of stress; hence, the high-stress and the low-support group were most vulnerable to anxiety [ 74 ]. Studies have also reported that 55% of teachers without spousal support had depression [ 42 ]. In addition, stress was reported to be associated with missed work days, high anxiety and high role conflict [ 43 , 89 ] and 53.2% of teachers identified work as a source of long-term stress, leading to burnout [ 55 ]. According to Fei Liu et al. resilience significantly correlated with job burnout and turnover intention, and low resilience could result in a high job burnout [ 86 ]. The research also showed that personality trait neuroticism was the best predictor of burnout (28–34%) [ 67 ].

3.9. Association between Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

A significant overlap was reported between stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. Eighteen articles reported a correlation between burnout and depression, with differences in depressive symptomatology depending on the prevalence of burnout [ 3 , 18 , 25 , 41 , 42 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 60 , 64 , 69 , 84 , 86 , 92 , 95 ]. Three articles reported a correlation between burnout and anxiety symptoms [ 52 , 64 ]. Seven articles reported a correlation between stress and anxiety [ 28 , 58 , 65 , 71 ]. Six articles reported a correlation between stress and depression [ 28 , 31 , 43 , 61 , 68 , 71 ]. A correlation exists between moderate depressive disorder and anxiety disorder as well as stress [ 31 , 96 ]. Negative affectivity (a tendency to feel depression, anxiety, or stress) plays a role in the development of burnout among teachers. Teachers who developed a more markedly negative affectivity also felt more burnt out, and the opposite was true [ 41 ]. This may be related to rumination. According to Nolen-Hoeksema, rumination is a pain response which entails a recurrent and passive focus on the symptoms of pain and their likely causes and outcomes [ 97 ]. Ruminative responses may prolong depression by overly focusing on negative thinking and may affect one’s behaviour and problem-solving [ 97 ]. Liu et al. reported that rumination moderated the association between job burnout and depression and that burnout was a stronger predictor of depression in teachers who experienced low rumination rather than high rumination [ 98 ]. This was explained by the importance of rumination for depression; with an improvement in the rumination level, job burnout had less ability to predict depression for those with high rumination levels.

There is a strong association between burnout and depression, as reported in several studies. High frequencies of burnout symptoms were identified among clinically depressed teachers [ 92 ], with 86% to 90% of the teachers identified as burnt out meeting the diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder [ 60 , 64 ], mainly for major depression (85%) [ 60 ]. In 25% to 85% of teachers with no burnout, depression ranged from 1% to 15% of the study sample. Specifically, only 1% to 3% of the participants in the no-burnout group were identified as having minor depression or depression not otherwise specified (2%) [ 60 , 64 ]. A history of depression was reported by about 63% of the teachers with burnout and 15% of the burnout-free teachers [ 60 ]. The high overlap between depression and burnout was emphasized in one study, which categorized depression as “low burnout-depression” (30%), “medium burnout-depression” (45%), and “high burnout-depression” (25%) [ 92 ]. Notably, the report suggests that although teacher burnout leads to subsequent depressive symptoms, it is not true vice versa [ 95 ]. Furthermore, burnout symptoms at ‘time one’ did not necessarily predict depressive symptoms at ‘time two’ [ 99 ]. Another study reported a positive relationship between burnout and depression [ 84 ]. This was confirmed by a study which suggested that depressive symptoms had a significant and robust association with the general burnout factor [ 50 ].

Anxiety disorder is also associated with higher perceived stress and major depression [ 65 ]. In one study, higher ongoing stressors were positively associated with higher anxiety levels. Continuous and episodic stressors were significantly and positively associated with anxiety and depression. They accounted for 28% (adjusted 25%) of the variability in anxiety and 27% (adjusted 24%) of the variability in depression. [ 71 ]. In contrast, higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ]. Teachers reported a high prevalence of depressive symptomatology relating to subjective and school-related stress [ 43 ].

4. Discussion

This scoping review included 70 articles. The prevalences of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported in this scoping review are similar to those reported in two systematic reviews and meta-analysis conducted among teachers during the pandemic. For example, the prevalence of stress reported by Ma et al., from a meta-analysis of 54 studies was 62.6%, whereas the prevalence of anxiety was 36.3% and depression was 59.9% among teachers during the pandemic [ 100 ]. In another meta-analysis, the prevalence range of anxiety was 10% to 49.4%; depression was 15.9% to 28.9%; and stress was 12.6% to 50.6% [ 101 ], which all fall within the range reported in this scoping review for stress [ 28 , 40 ], anxiety [ 42 , 56 ], and depression [ 48 , 59 ]. However, the minimum in all cases was higher during the pandemic, suggesting an increase in psychological problems during the pandemic.

The varying prevalence for stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported by different studies in this review may be attributable to heterogeneous study designs, including the sample size, location, period of data collection, diversity in the standardized scales used for the assessment, and other factors such as the class size and grade taught [ 102 , 103 ]. In this scoping review, the studies used combinations of terminologies such as “none,” “slightly,” “significant,” “much,” “extremely,” “considerably”, “almost unbearable”, “quite a bit” or “a great deal” to describe the level of stress experienced by teachers according to the measures utilized,, such as the Teachers Stress Inventory [ 44 , 77 ] or the Bruno Teachers Inventory [ 43 ]. The prevalence rates also varied with population, for example, in the case of Fimian, the teachers were teaching special needs students, and this may explain the relatively high prevalence (87.1%) recorded [ 44 ]. More recent studies which used other scales, such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), used terminologies such as “symptoms of stress”, ranging from “mild,” “moderate,” “mild to moderate” or “extremely severe”, to describe the stress levels. For burnout, although most studies used a combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ], some studies focused on reporting the sub-dimensions of burnout, whilst others reported general burnout. Varying expressions such as “low burnout”, “high burnout, “severe burnout”, and moderate were used to describe burnout, making it difficult to make an effective comparison. It was also not clear whether the stress and burnout experienced by the participants were everyday existential life experiences that everyone faces or chronic ones that needed intervention, as these were not specifically stated in the studies. It is essential that future research clarifies this to estimate their prevalence rates more accurately. Secondly, as indicated in the review, the studies applied various scales to measure the prevalence of psychological disorders; however, there was a lack of consensus. This scoping review provides a comprehensive picture of the prevalence of the target outcomes and sets up a foundation for future systematic reviews and meta-analysis to accurately estimate the prevalence of these outcomes among teachers.

The essential correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, gender, marital status, school (organizational) factors and work-related factors (years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, subject taught and absenteeism). Most studies were published in the last fifteen years (2007–2022), indicating a recent increase in interest in this area of research.

4.1. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Stress

Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and marital status significantly influence teacher stress [ 54 ]. Sex correlates with stress although there are some conflicting reports [ 42 , 53 , 76 ], especially between the levels of stress experienced by males and females. Some studies suggest that female teachers experience more stress than their male counterparts [ 28 , 75 , 77 ]. Working women often have additional demands at home, and trying to accomplish both roles may increase their stress levels [ 104 ] compared to males who may have less demand from home. However, this may be context-dependent, as no sex difference in occupational stress was reported among police officers [ 105 ], for example. The demand from female teachers’ personal lives, including marital issues and home, may be a source of increased stress levels [ 104 ]. Among the general workforce, work–family conflict has been reported to be significantly associated with work stress [ 106 ], and this is not confined only to females. This argument is confirmed in three separate studies, which reported that gender, per se, was not a significant predictor of perceived stress [ 39 , 85 , 89 ]; thus, it is possible that these differences may, rather, be due to differences in the scales used or the effect of organizational factors. For example, the organisational effect experienced by female teachers in a female only elementary or high school may differ from that experienced in a male only or mixed sex teaching environment; however, further research is needed in this area of gender influencing stress factors. Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey data nonetheless endorsed a difference between males and females regarding work stress, in particular supervisor support. Higher levels of supervisor support seemed to lower work stress amongst women but not men [ 107 ]. Among the general population, social support at work could be more strongly related to a stress reduction in women than in their male counterparts [ 108 ] Sex difference was also observed in relation to student behaviour, with women experiencing increased stress [ 42 , 77 ]. In particular, female teachers’ collective efficacy and beliefs about their school staff group capabilities may lower their stress from student behaviour. Findings from the study by Klassen support the hypothesis that teachers’ collective efficacy serves as a job resource that mediates the effect of stress from student behaviour [ 77 ]. Interventions addressing gender/sex differences may also be considered in supporting female educators’ mental health and work productivity.

A study among refugee teachers also endorsed sex differences in stress [ 42 , 57 ]; however this was in relation to self-care and the association was moderated by age [ 57 ]. Higher occupational stress scores were observed among teachers over 40 years [ 28 ]; nonetheless, among the general population, the published literature reports that the ageing process can worsen or counter the effects of stress [ 109 ], indicating that age does not necessarily increase stress. The cause of increased stress, hence, shifts to other factors such as the poor academic performance of students, or a lack of assistance [ 78 ], which may be influencing an increase in stress.

The class size, grade level taught, workload, poor student performance or lack of progress and other work and school-related factors contribute to teachers’ stress. According to Fimian et al., when stressful events or the perception of them are not ultimately resolved or improved, this may result in several physiological manifestations [ 44 ]. There is clear data indicating that teacher stress was intensified among primary school teachers, special needs teachers, and teachers in private schools who provided more support and input to students than other teachers [ 28 , 78 , 85 , 110 ]. The additional time and energy teachers may invest in primary school kids, who are usually much younger and may require more support, may explain the increased stress among primary school teachers. Again, teaching special needs students may require significant teacher input and assistance, depending on the nature and degree of the disabilities. There is also an increased expectation from teachers in private schools regarding the students’ performances, leading to increased stress [ 28 ]. A study conducted among primary and secondary school teachers in Pakistan concluded that government school teachers were more satisfied with their working conditions than private school teachers [ 110 ], and thus, may experience less stress. In addition, the school location (rural vs. urban), teacher role ambiguity and coherence further exacerbated teacher stress [ 3 , 75 , 89 , 111 ]. An excessive use of technological devices, such as mobile phones, has also been associated with social disruption [ 112 ] and may result in a lack of concentration or poor student performance at school [ 112 , 113 ], leading to teacher stress. Teachers experiencing more significant stress were also burnt out [ 68 ]. For example, during the pandemic, teachers had to adopt and adjust to teaching online, and virtual instruction teachers had the most increased anxiety [ 58 ]. Nonetheless, a rapid systematic review with a meta-analysis reported that teacher stress during the pandemic was still comparatively lower in school teachers with a prevalence of 13% ([95% CI: 7–22%]) in comparison to studies with university teachers as the participants of 35% ([95% CI: 12–66%]) [ 114 ].

While there are complex interactions among several factors which contribute to teacher stress, there have been limited evidence-based interventions to help teachers alleviate these stress sources despite some self-reported coping strategies. This research gap started to receive attention during the COVID-19 pandemic through the application of mindfulness-based interventions [ 115 ], warranting more advanced research on how to best address these challenges in education.

4.2. Socio-Demographic, Years of Teaching, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Burnout

Burnout continues to pose problems within the teaching profession, and factors such as gender, sex, age, marital status and the number of years teaching correlated with the degree of burnout [ 40 , 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 63 , 67 , 68 , 72 , 73 ], although conflicting results were reported with potentially different explanations. Differences in the study design, particularly the scales used to assess burnout as well as geographical and organizational factors, may account for some of the conflicting results. In addition, there could be an interplay between some personal and professional factors. For example, younger teachers are more likely to be enthusiastic about their new teaching careers, whilst older teachers may experience boredom leading to increased exhaustion. Consistent with this hypothesis, one study reported that teachers who had taught for the fewest (0–5) years experienced the lowest burnout prevalence [ 54 ]. On the contrary, more experienced teachers were likely to have gained exposure, learnt students’ characteristics and classroom management skills and the necessary tools to help them prevent and address burnout. Additionally, teachers who lacked self-fulfilment may have been mostly younger and lacked personal accomplishments [ 47 ], leading to more burnout.

Significantly higher burnout scores, including for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and intellectual burnout were found among female teachers than among male teachers in some studies [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], whilst other studies reported that burnout was higher among male teachers. These results are contrary to findings reported among police officers, which indicated no significant difference in the levels of occupational burnout reported by male and female police officers [ 105 ]. Further studies are needed to investigate the contradictory gender differences in teachers’ burnout by different studies. In addition, research is needed on innovative gender-neutral ways of addressing burnout in teachers. Other structural factors, such as the number of children teachers have and class sizes which are associated with increased teacher burnout, require an increased investment in teachers and schools to address them. Governments providing teachers with affordable childcare and other supports for their own children, and building more schools to reduce the class sizes, may lead to a reduced burnout among teachers.

There is also a relationship between burnout and school or work-related factors. The subjects and grades taught and the medium of instruction all contribute to teachers’ burnout [ 7 , 51 ]. Teachers’ perceptions of the difficulty of a subject taught appears to determine their degree of burnout experienced; however, no particular subject seems to be the leading cause of burnout. High school teachers may perceive an increased workload in terms of the amount of time attributed to class preparation due to the difficulty of a subject taught. A cross-sectional study among nurses also found that role overload contributed to higher levels of emotional exhaustion [ 116 ] and this was also endorsed among healthcare managers where prolonged job strain resulted in burnout and an increased turnover intention [ 117 ]. This suggests there is a complex interaction between self-perception and burnout, which makes burnout in teachers a complex problem to address. Differences were also noted in the prevalence of burnout among teachers working in different countries [ 84 ]. For example, 58% of the variance in burnout in Cyprus could be explained by job satisfaction and anxiety, whereas 57.5% of the variance in burnout in Germany was explained by job satisfaction alone [ 84 ]. Different countries have different working conditions which may explain the differences in job satisfaction and associated burnout prevalence among teachers in different countries.

4.3. Effect of Resilience on Burnout

Resilience involves adapting well in the face of stress, difficulty, trauma, disaster, and threats. Resilient people use positive emotions to rebound and find positive meaning even in stressful circumstances [ 118 ]. Resilience had a significantinverse correlation with job burnout and turnover intention, and resilience could negatively predict job burnout [ 86 ]. Resilience was also reported to have an inverse association with burnout symptoms [ 119 ]; thus, increased resilience is linked to decreased burnout and, hence, the tendency for a teacher to remain in their job and thrive no matter what they encounter. Job burnout had a significant positive predictive effect and correlation with turnover intention, which suggests that the more severe the job burnout is, the higher the turnover intention [ 86 ]. Teachers require positive emotions and an increased resilience to remain in the profession and succeed without quitting. Conversely, among physicians, a survey indicated that the burnout prevalence was still significant even among the most resilient physicians; however, West et al. suggested that physicians exhibited higher levels of resilience than the general working population [ 119 ], including teachers. Additionally, resilience was also a significant predictor of depression and anxiety [ 88 ]; thus, the higher the resilience, the less likely teachers will experience depression or anxiety.

4.4. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Depression and Anxiety

Socio-demographic, school and work-related factors are all associated with both anxiety and depression [ 42 , 50 , 51 , 80 ]. This association is consistent with what was reported in a systematic review and meta-analysis by Ma et al., which suggested that teachers’ experiences of psychological issues were associated with various socio-demographic factors such as gender, institutional factors, teaching experience, and workload volume [ 100 ]. In this scoping review, conflicting results were found in relation to the association between teacher gender and depression. Whilst some studies reported that female teachers have higher depression levels than male teachers [ 42 , 51 , 70 , 79 , 81 , 82 ], other studies have reported no gender differences in teacher depression levels [ 53 ]. Contradictory results were also reported for the association between the age of teachers and depression, with some studies reporting higher depression levels in younger teachers [ 42 ] and others reporting higher depression in older teachers [ 51 ]. As discussed previously, it is likely that the use of different scales, coupled with organizational factors, contributed to these contradictory findings among the different studies. The findings also indicated that most female teachers who suffered from depression had been working for about 11 to 15 years [ 120 ].

A poor workplace environment has also been associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms [ 121 ] and school-related stress may transition to depressive symptoms among teachers [ 80 , 94 ]. As teachers’ workloads increase, their working hours will invariably increase, resulting in a rise in job demand and ultimately a surge in stress, leading to anxiety and depression. A systematic review reported similar findings where the main risk factors associated with anxiety and depression included job overload and job demands. [ 122 ]. The research also shows that teachers are not the only exception regarding experiencing a poor workplace environment which may lead to increased anxiety and depression [ 122 , 123 ]. Improving teachers’ workplace environments may, therefore, reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depression among teachers. Anxiety has also been linked to stressors relating to pupils and parents. For example, the possibility of a parental complaint increased anxiety scores [ 45 ]. Generally, parents want their children to succeed academically, which sometimes creates friction between teachers and parents. The underperformance of students or failure may be blamed on teachers or construed as the responsibility of schools and teachers [ 124 ], which may result in increased stress and subsequently anxiety and depression for teachers.

Social support was also reported to predict anxiety and depression symptoms, with high support levels indicating fewer symptoms related to anxiety and severe depression [ 121 , 125 ]; thus, teachers who perceived social support at school (e.g., the personnel relation dimension) expressed a lower stress level than those who did not [ 75 ]. According to Peele and Wolf 2020, anxiety and depressive symptoms increase for all teachers over the school year, and poor social support plays a significant role in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms [ 121 ]. Organizational policies that include the provision of adequate social support for teachers may, therefore, be a useful strategy to prevent and mitigate anxiety and depressive symptoms among teachers.

5. Limitations

The scoping review is not without limitations. This scoping review searched for articles in the English language only. Though every effort was made to identify all relevant studies for this review considering our eligibility criteria, we may have left out some relevant studies, particularly those published in other languages. Our search included six databases, yet the overall search strategy may have been biased toward health and sciences. Searching other bibliographic databases may have yielded additional published articles. Furthermore, different studies included in this scoping review used various screening tools and worldwide diagnostic classifications to determine stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, leading to variations in the prevalence estimates. The scoping review included studies from 1974 till date; therefore, it is possible that the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout may have changed. Notwithstanding these potential changes in the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout, the burnout prevalence among teachers has appeared to have remained stable over the years. There was also no evaluation of the risk of bias for the included studies. Despite these limitations, this scoping review provides an excellent perspective on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among teachers.

6. Conclusions

Teachers’ psychological and mental health is of utmost importance as it indirectly affects the students they teach. The stress associated with the teaching profession can be linked to three major overlapping issues: burnout, anxiety, and depression, which have a myriad of effects, including an impact on teachers’ health, well-being, and productivity. A wide range of prevalences and correlates were reported for stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Differences in the severity were observed in different articles resulting in the diverse prevalence reported among the various studies. The differences in the measurement instruments creates critical knowledge gaps, making it difficult for researchers to make effective comparisons between the different studies. Future research should focus on addressing these research gaps arising from methodological issues, especially the use of different scales to allow for a meaningful comparison. Researchers, educators, and policy makers could benefit from an international consensus meeting and agree on common scales to be used when assessing stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression in teachers. Such an international consensus meeting can also help to streamline the definition of stress and can be used as a forum for addressing other methodological issues related to research and innovations involving elementary and high school teachers. Future research can also focus on exploring the gender differences in these psychological issues further, especially, defining the various subsets of gender being referred to and the specific prevalence in each case. In addition, the high prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression reported particularly by several high-quality studies suggests that these psychological problems are widespread among teachers and deserves special attention both at the level of policy and practice.

This scoping review also highlights the risk factors associated with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Identifying these risk factors is a significant step toward addressing these issues among teachers. Schools need to prioritize and promote interventions aimed at teachers’ personal wellbeing. Testing and implementing the interventions aiming to improve teachers’ well-being and ability to cope are important to address stress and burnout, with the expectation that this will prevent or reduce anxiety and depression. This may include school-based awareness and intervention programs to detect the early signs of teacher stress and burnout, or programs that incorporate meditation techniques or text-based support. Meditation techniques have been proposed to be effective in improving psychological distress, fatigue and burnout [ 126 ]. For example, mindfulness practice has been suggested as beneficial in coping with job-related stress, improving the sense of efficacy and reducing burnout in the teaching profession [ 127 ]. Interventions such as mobile text technology are an evidence-based, unique, and innovative way that offers a convenient, low cost and easily accessible form of delivering psychological interventions to the public with mental health problems [ 128 , 129 , 130 ]. Mobile text-based programs can be easily implemented at the school level to support teachers’ psychological needs. Future studies need to explore the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of intervention programs for improving mental health outcomes among teachers. For instance, the Wellness4Teachers program which is planned for implementation in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ], is expected to provide evidence of effectiveness for the use of daily supportive text messaging to combat stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Finally, governments, school boards and policymakers need to collaborate with researchers on the design and implementation of measures to enhance teachers’ mental health, productivity (teaching) and quality of life.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Burnout/Stress.

* Katsantonis 2020 (15 countries)—Japan and Korea form the East-Asian model. France and Spain form the Latin model. Denmark and Sweden form the Northern model. Australia and the United Kingdom represent the Anglo-Saxon model and finally, Belgium and the Netherlands form the Germanic model. Sample Size: SS; Emotional Exhaustion: EE; Personal Accomplishment: PA; Depersonalization: DP; Occupational Stress: OS; Sense of Coherence: SOC; Science Stream: SCIS; Art Stream: AS.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Depression/Anxiety.

Sample Size: SS; Major Depressive Disorder: MDD.

Funding Statement

This study was supported by the Mental Health Foundation and the Douglas Harden Trust Fund.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.A; software, and validation, B.A., G.O.-D. and L.B.; methodology and formal analysis, B.A.; data curation, B.A. and G.O.-D.; investigation and resources, B.A. and Y.W.; writing—original draft preparation, B.A.; writing—review and editing, B.A, G.O.-D., L.B. and Y.W.; supervision, L.B. and Y.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, the interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the results for publication.

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The effects of teachers' homework follow-up practices on students' EFL performance: a randomized-group design

Affiliations.

• 1 Departamento de Psicologia Aplicada, Escola de Psicologia, Universidade do Minho Braga, Portugal.
• 2 Departamento de Psicologia, Universidad de Oviedo Oviedo, Spain.
• 3 Vicerrectoría Académica, Universidad Central de Chile Santiago de Chile, Chile ; Facultad de Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Chile Santiago de Chile, Chile.
• PMID: 26528204
• PMCID: PMC4603246
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01528

This study analyzed the effects of five types of homework follow-up practices (i.e., checking homework completion; answering questions about homework; checking homework orally; checking homework on the board; and collecting and grading homework) used in class by 26 teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) using a randomized-group design. Once a week, for 6 weeks, the EFL teachers used a particular type of homework follow-up practice they had previously been assigned to. At the end of the 6 weeks students completed an EFL exam as an outcome measure. The results showed that three types of homework follow-up practices (i.e., checking homework orally; checking homework on the board; and collecting and grading homework) had a positive impact on students' performance, thus highlighting the role of EFL teachers in the homework process. The effect of EFL teachers' homework follow-up practices on students' performance was affected by students' prior knowledge, but not by the number of homework follow-up sessions.

Keywords: English as a Foreign Language (EFL); academic performance; homework; teachers' practices; types of homework follow-up.

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Key facts about public school teachers in the U.S.

U.S. public school teachers have spent 2024 in the spotlight. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , has highlighted his previous career as a high school teacher and football coach. And a congressional hearing in June focused on multiple “crises” facing public school teachers , including low pay and overwork.

Here are some key facts about the 3.8 million public school teachers who work in America’s classrooms. These findings primarily come from a fall 2023 Pew Research Center survey of public K-12 teachers and from federal data.

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on the demographics, experiences and hopes of K-12 public school teachers in the United States.

Demographic data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Data on teachers’ experiences primarily comes from a Center survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers conducted from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. This post also draws on our survey of 5,188 U.S. workers conducted from Feb. 6 to 12, 2023; it included both part-time and full-time workers who are not self-employed and have only one job or have more than one but consider one to be their primary job.

More information about each survey, including the questions and methodology, can be found at the links in the text.

Most K-12 public school teachers are women. About three-quarters (77%) of teachers are women and 23% are men, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2020-21 school year, which is the most recent one available. This gender imbalance is especially notable in elementary schools, where 89% of teachers are women. Women make up 72% of middle school teachers and 60% of secondary or high school teachers.

There is far more gender balance among U.S. workers overall, across different industries and occupations. In 2020, women accounted for 47% of workers ages 25 and older, compared with 53% who were men, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. “Workers” in this analysis are those ages 25 and older in the U.S. noninstitutionalized civilian population.

The teaching force skews a bit younger than U.S. workers overall. Just 8% of K-12 public school teachers are at least 60 years old, but 16% of U.S. workers are at least 60. Public school teachers are more likely to be in their 30s and 40s than are U.S. workers overall (56% vs. 49%). 

As a group, U.S. public school teachers are considerably less racially and ethnically diverse than their students, according to NCES data. In 2020-21, 80% of public school elementary and secondary teachers identified as non-Hispanic White. Much smaller shares were Hispanic (9%), Black (6%), Asian American or multiracial (2% each). And fewer than 1% identified as Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaska Native.

By comparison, just under half (46%) of all public school students were non-Hispanic White in 2020. Another 28% were Hispanic, 15% were Black and 5% were Asian. Meanwhile, 4% were multiracial, and about 1% or fewer were American Indian and Alaska Native or Pacific Islander.

The share of the teaching force who is White has declined 7 percentage points between the 1987-88 and 2020-21 school years, but the growth in teachers’ racial and ethnic diversity still has not kept pace with the rapid growth in the diversity of their students over this time span. ( Note: In 2021, the Center published a more detailed version of this analysis  using the most recent data available at that time.)

Only a third of teachers say they’re extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, according to a fall 2023 Center survey of public K-12 teachers . About half (48%) say they’re somewhat satisfied, while 18% say they are not too or not at all satisfied with their job.

Teachers express much lower job satisfaction than U.S. workers overall: 51% of all employed adults say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job, according to a separate Center survey conducted in early 2023 . (Data for U.S. workers excludes those who are self-employed.)

Teachers are especially dissatisfied with certain aspects of the job, including how much they are paid (51% say they are not too or not at all satisfied); the opportunities for training or ways to develop new skills (26%); and the benefits their employer provides (24%).

In fact, 29% of teachers said it was at least somewhat likely they’d look for a new job in the 2023-24 school year. Among these teachers, 40% said it was at least somewhat likely they’d look for a job outside of education entirely.

Most teachers describe their job as stressful and overwhelming. Majorities of teachers say they find their job stressful (77%) or overwhelming (68%) extremely often or often. Some teachers are especially likely to experience this:

• Women: 74% of women teachers say they find teaching to be overwhelming extremely often or often, compared with 49% of men. And 80% of women teachers frequently find the job stressful, compared with 67% of men.
• Elementary and middle school teachers: Educators at these levels are more likely than their counterparts at high schools to say that their job is frequently stressful and overwhelming.

Teachers’ negative feelings may be related to the issues they report with understaffing. Seven-in-ten public K-12 teachers say their school is understaffed, with 15% saying it’s very understaffed. Another 55% say their school is somewhat understaffed. This pattern is consistent across elementary, middle and high schools.

Newer teachers are the most likely to say their job is generally fulfilling and enjoyable. Overall, slim majorities of all K-12 public school teachers say they find their job fulfilling (56%) or enjoyable (53%) extremely often or often.

These sentiments are most common among those who’ve been teaching for less than six years. For instance, 67% of teachers who have been teaching for five years or less say their job is fulfilling extremely often or often. That compares with 52% of teachers with six to 10 years of experience and 54% of those who’ve been teaching for 11 years or more.

Fewer people are completing the educational requirements to be hired as teachers – just one indicator of the field’s growing pipeline problem , NCES data shows. Many K-12 teachers  enter their line of work after getting a bachelor’s degree in education, which includes a teacher preparation program. But some teachers instead meet license requirements through alternative preparation programs , offered through a college or university, state government, nonprofit or other organization.

Both the number and share of new college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in education have decreased over the last few decades . Yet during that span, the overall number and share of Americans with a college degree increased.

In 2021-22, the most recent year with available data, schools conferred about 89,000 education bachelor’s degrees, making up 4% of the total issued that year. In 2000-01, roughly 105,000 undergraduates (8% of the total) graduated with bachelor’s degrees in education.

Teacher preparation programs have also seen a steep decline in enrollment  in recent years, including both traditional programs associated with higher-education institutions and alternative ones. Between the 2012-13 and 2020-21 school years, the number of people who completed teacher prep programs dropped from about 190,000 to 160,000. In 2020-21, 13% of those prospective educators received their prep through alternative programs run by organizations other than institutions of higher education.

Teachers are relatively split on whether they would advise young people to join the profession, according to the Center’s fall 2023 survey. While 48% say they would recommend the profession to a young person starting out today, 52% say they would not.

High school teachers (56%) are more likely than middle school (46%) and elementary school (43%) teachers to recommend the job. This view is also more common among teachers with five years or less of teaching experience than among more veteran educators.

Teachers rate students in their school fairly low when it comes to academic performance and behavior. About half of K-12 public school teachers say the behavior (49%) and academic performance (48%) of most of students at their school is fair or poor. Meanwhile, just 17% say students’ academic performance is excellent or very good, and 13% say the same about student behavior at their school.

In addition to broader issues at their school, teachers report various challenges in their own classrooms. Teachers across all K-12 grade levels say certain student behaviors are major issues in their classroom:

• Showing little to no interest in learning (47% of teachers say this is a major problem)
• Being distracted by their cellphones (33%)
• Getting up and walking around when they’re not supposed to (21%)
• Being disrespectful toward teachers (21%)

Certain problems are more prevalent for older or younger grade levels. For instance, high school teachers report bigger problems with cellphone distraction (72% say it’s a major problem) and students showing little to no interest in learning (58%). Meanwhile, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to experience students getting up and walking around or being disrespectful toward teachers.

About half of teachers (51%) say that if there’s one thing they want the public to know about them, it’s that teaching is a difficult job and teachers are hardworking. This was the most common response to an open-ended question we asked teachers last fall .

Another 22% of teachers said they want the public to know that teachers care about their students, and 17% want the public to know that teachers are undervalued.

• Education & Politics

Katherine Schaeffer is a research analyst at Pew Research Center .

5 facts about student loans

72% of u.s. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom, u.s. public, private and charter schools in 5 charts, is college worth it, half of latinas say hispanic women’s situation has improved in the past decade and expect more gains, most popular.

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