The Right Training and Support Can Help You Avoid Burnout in ECE

Posted On July 24,2025

You’re excited for your new career in early childhood education. You’ve completed a great program, and you’re ready to get going. Then you start, and you go hard from the beginning. You invest hours in getting your space exactly as you want. You get there early and stay late every day, writing reports, making plans, and preparing activities. You pour your heart and soul into your career. And over time, exhaustion and burnout begin to creep in. You don’t want this for yourself, so is a career in education right for you?

Burnout is a risk in any career that people enter hoping to make a difference. Educator burnout, specifically in early childhood settings, is real, but it’s not inevitable, and it doesn’t need to derail your career.  There are emotional, mental, and physical demands to working in early childhood education, and if you aren’t careful, those demands can lead to burnout. However, with the right preparation, support, and mindset, this “inevitable” burnout can be minimized or even avoided altogether. You can thrive as an early childhood educator without burning out.

What Are the Signs of Burnout?

Feeling tired at the end of a long day teaching young kids? That’s normal. Feeling like you have a lot to do as a teacher? Expected. Frustrated when a student was particularly demanding or challenging? Logical. Some days are energizing, some are draining. You go home, you decompress, you get a good night’s sleep, and you go back ready for a new day.

Burnout is more than just feeling tired or frustrated after a long day. Some of the signs that burnout is creeping in include a real loss of energy, irritation about your work that overshadows the joy, and a loss of drive to complete the tasks you need to do for your day. The hallmark of burnout is a prolonged period of stress that results in such exhaustion that you don’t see how you can keep moving forward. This is when you know that you aren’t just tired after a bad day, but burnout is creeping in.

Why Do Early Childhood Educators Struggle with Burnout?

While burnout is possible in any career, specific careers are more susceptible. One of the primary reasons early childhood educators face burnout is that teachers often enter the profession because they genuinely care about making a difference. You take in all the emotions of the day, you push yourself physically, and you invest as much of yourself as you can because the kids matter to you. But this level of caring just means you will be a great teacher, and not every great teacher faces burnout.

What causes early childhood educators to burn out are three key factors: a lack of support, inadequate preparation, and unrealistic expectations. If you feel like everything is on your shoulders alone, all day, every day, you won’t be able to keep up with those expectations. If you don’t have someone to support you at work, you won’t have the help when you need it. And if you aren’t prepared for the challenges of early childhood education, you can get overwhelmed quickly.

What Can I Do to Avoid Burnout?

The first thing you can do to prevent regular stress from becoming burnout is to be aware of the signs and know when it’s time to take a step back. But in addition to that, there are some things you can do to set yourself up for success. First, make finding a mentor one of your priorities as a new teacher. Having someone with experience to help you plan lessons, debrief after a frustrating day, and make adjustments when necessary can make challenges much easier to face. Time blocking is another excellent strategy that can help you make your days more manageable. Give yourself blocks of time for what needs to get done, and stick to that as best you can. This way, everything can be handled without slipping through the cracks.

Finally, make sure you don’t neglect self-care. Write it in your planner, add it to your time-blocked schedule, and have a friend or mentor to hold you accountable if you need to, but don’t let yourself get so swallowed up by your job that you neglect yourself.

How Can a Training Program Help Early Childhood Educators Avoid Burnout?

A good training program understands the demands of a career in early childhood education and gives you the skills you’ll need to manage as part of your curriculum. In other words, high-quality training equips teachers to handle the challenges of their job and prevent burnout effectively. This includes:

• Behavior management skills (you need a solid “bag of tricks”)
• Developmental stages (if you understand these, you can adjust expectations)
• Time management skills (when there’s a lot to do, you need a plan to get it done)
• Stress management skills (recognize and handle stressful situations)
• Conflict resolution skills (know how to resolve an issue through good communication before it becomes overwhelming).

These skills are just as important as learning about early literacy or numeracy. They are critical for developing successful teachers. Not only should you look for a program that makes these skills a priority, but also make sure you find a program that allows practicums and real-world experience before taking your first role. Many high-quality programs also offer mentorship opportunities, where you can connect with someone to support you as you begin your career.

Find a Supportive Learning Environment

The perfect school: small class sizes, engaged teachers and parents, a mentor for everyone. While this isn’t always what you’ll find in the real world, you can still look for a supportive teaching environment that helps prevent teachers from burning out. When job searching, look for a school that values its teachers and provides a supportive environment where they can flourish, offering ongoing training, encouraging a work-life balance, and working collaboratively to help all teachers thrive.

Don’t let the possibility of burnout scare you from pursuing a career that you want. The benefits of working as an early childhood teacher are remarkable. With the right mindset, you can face the challenges, maintain a positive mental state, and make a meaningful difference in the lives of many young children.

Get the proper training and support at Athena Career Academy, so you can thrive in early childhood education without burning out. Contact us today to learn more.