Almost one in two (49%) of Australian educators are burnt out, with just over half saying their workplace has a positive impact on their mental health.
The State of the Nation: Staff Wellbeing Across Australian Schools report, by Adrienne Hornby, Education Consultant and a former teacher and leader, says generic wellbeing programs are not addressing the core of the problem – poor working conditions.
Between 2023 and 2026, the Well-Led Schools Staff Wellbeing Survey captured responses from 4,536 staff across 58 Australian government, Catholic and independent schools. The researchers made sure that the figures reflected school-level averages, so no single large school skewed the data. Schools were also grouped by ICSEA band, with specialist schools analysed separately.
Nationally, the top stressors were long working hours and excessive workload (51%), administrative tasks (51%), catering for complex student needs (51%) and managing challenging behaviour (46%).
Below-average ICSEA secondary staff fared worst on nearly every measure, with just 27% reporting high morale (national: 50%), 39% reporting a positive culture (63%), and 54% reporting negative thoughts about their job (38%).
In specialist schools, 34% of staff reported occupational violence as a stressor, more than three times the national average, and stress attributed to staff shortages reached 62%, with below-average secondary schools at 63% (against a national average of 40%).
Above-average ICSEA primary schools reported the nation's strongest conditions: 67% high morale, 77% positive culture, evidence that when conditions are right, staff thrive.
What teachers are asking for
Asked what would help improve wellbeing and reduce psychosocial hazards, teachers and school staff ask for reduced workloads, input into school decisions, flexible working, and the consistent application of policies and procedures across the school.
“Focusing on personal strategies while the workplace and systemic psychosocial hazards go unaddressed is like throwing a lit match into a puddle of fuel,” report author Adrienne Hornby said.
“The report is careful to frame wellbeing as a joint responsibility; staff have their part to play, but personal coping can only do its work once the conditions allow it.”
Further, context matters, said Hornby.
“One generic strategy cannot be applied across every different type of school with their own unique needs and complexities. The report analyses each ICSEA band separately, and the same stressor means something different in every setting,” she said.
“The national average is a mathematical place. Nobody works there. The moment we split the data by school type, the real risks appeared, and so did the right controls for each.”
‘Moral injury’ pushing educators towards the exit
Hornby said the schools with the greatest need require the most support, adding that at-risk settings, such as below-average ICSEA secondary schools and specialist schools, face compounding systemic pressures no wellness program can touch, and their leaders cannot fix labour markets or funding paperwork; they need resourcing and support.
"These schools are not failing; they are schools carrying the most with the least slack," she said.
Beneath the data sits what researchers call 'moral injury': the lasting distress of being unable to act on one's own professional beliefs and values.
“This ‘moral injury’ is pushing educators towards the exit; it’s about not feeling effective or good enough, not just exhaustion,” Hornby said.
“Every term the school conditions stop them from delivering the education they know the students deserve, the injury deepens. Managing psychosocial risk for staff is now a legal duty; it's no longer a nice-to-have.”