Why school leaders are burning out?

This week, in a conversation about school leadership and burnout, I found myself returning to a statistic that refuses to sit quietly: 86% of school leaders are currently stressed.

It’s a number that lands heavily not because it’s shocking, but because it feels familiar.

For a long time, I believed I was coping. I loved my role. I was a Deputy Head. I was committed, driven and deeply invested in my school. Stress felt like part of the job, something to manage privately and push through.

I didn’t think it would happen to me.

Until it did.

Burnout didn’t arrive dramatically. It crept in.

Sleep disappeared. Meals were skipped. Working hours stretched longer as my energy drained away. I told myself I just needed to try harder even as my productivity dropped and my patience thinned.

The signs showed up at home before I was ready to see them at work. Irritability. Constant rushing. Then the physical warnings: heart concerns, migraines, weight loss. My body was carrying what my mind refused to slow down for.

We often talk about leadership pressure as though it’s temporary, something that will ease once the next deadline passes. But the reality for school leaders is that many of the pressures aren’t going anywhere.

• Post-pandemic recovery.

• Funding constraints.

• Staff absence and retention.

• Inspection frameworks.

• Rising expectations.

• Relentless bureaucracy.
  

Individually, each is demanding. Together, they create a level of sustained stress that quietly erodes wellbeing and effectiveness.

And the cost isn’t only personal.

Leaders under chronic pressure are less able to show up as their best selves. Decision-making narrows. Relationships feel heavier. And the impact ripples outward to staff, to pupils and to families at home who feel the strain even when words aren’t spoken.

In my work now, I talk a lot about sustainable leadership not as a softer option, but as a necessary one.

In recent sessions with headteachers and senior leaders, we’ve explored some practical ways to interrupt the drift towards burnout, including:

• The importance of identifying and regularly using your most valued strengths and how firefighting crowds them out

• Why protecting time often triggers guilt, and how intentional diary boundaries reduce overwhelm rather than increase it

• How small, consistent practices like journaling can lower stress, support clarity and make pressure feel more manageable

• The difference between constant busyness and meaningful effectiveness

• Why sustainable leadership benefits not just leaders, but whole school communities

  
  

One of the most striking patterns I see is how rarely leaders stop to ask themselves what they need in order to function well, not exceptionally, just sustainably.

None of this is about lowering standards or pretending school leadership is easy. It isn’t.

It’s about recognising that leaders who never pause eventually pay a price and that caring for yourself is not a distraction from the role, it's part of it.

Sustainable leadership doesn’t come from pushing harder.

It comes from self-awareness, intentional choices and the courage to lead in ways that protect both people and purpose.

If you’re leading in a school right now and feeling the pressure to simply keep going, I hope this gives you permission to stop and reflect and reassurance that there is another way.

You don’t have to reach burnout to justify change.

👉 Watch the Full video on YouTube