Emotionally wrung out teachers say an Education Review Office (ERO) report on burnout has hit the nail on the head.
The ERO report suggests that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and principals are struggling and wellbeing is significantly impacted.
It's found rural principals are nearly twice as likely to report their workload was unmanageable compared to principals of very large schools.
"We have 18 percent of our families that don't have network coverage, 38 percent have dial-up, so that complicated wellbeing from the start," says King Country's Pio Pio College principal Johan van Deventer.
He says since COVID hit, teachers have had their own stresses with elderly relatives who might be sick or young children at home who are vulnerable.
"We weren't seen as frontline workers but we had to open ourselves up to the wider community."
Ruth Shinoda, head of ERO's education evaluation centre, says teachers have had to react quickly and adapt the way they work.
"But this has come at a cost. Teachers' and principals' enjoyment in their work is low and declining."
Pio Pio College first-year teacher Mandi Butler says children are mentally stressed.
"You try and advocate for them, it's actually really hard because you are not a counsellor, but you put that hat on."
The ERO report shows younger teachers have been particularly affected, with teachers under 35 three times more likely to be unhappy at work.
Only a third of teachers found their workload manageable.
A third of principals report student behaviour was worse than normal by mid-year.
"The students would respond in such extreme ways, there were emotional blowouts quite often so we had to appoint a person three days a week just to look after wellbeing of teachers and students," says van Deventer.
Melanie Webber, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, says she's worried at the number of teachers New Zealand will lose to burnout.
"In fact the ERO report says about 17 percent of schools are struggling to fill places - that is worse in low decile areas."
The report calls for better pastoral care in schools going forward, something welcomed by first-year teacher Butler who says teacher burnout is real.
"Even if they say they are okay ten times, they are not, they are just trying to cope."
