Sixty children, one of you, a salary that arrives when it arrives — and a job everyone calls a calling so that nobody has to pay for it.
Teaching is emotionally demanding work performed under conditions that would break most professions, and Nigerian teachers do it with overcrowded classes, unreliable pay and almost no institutional support. Burnout among teachers is well documented internationally; here it is compounded by conditions that are structural rather than personal.
What the job actually asks
Class sizes that make good teaching impossible. Public primary classrooms with sixty, eighty, sometimes more. You cannot know sixty children individually. Most teachers are aware every day of what they cannot do, and that gap between the standard you hold and the one the conditions allow is a reliable route to burnout.
Pay problems. Salaries delayed by months in some states, arrears that arrive without explanation, and a base figure that does not survive the current cost of living. Teachers frequently run side businesses simply to stay afloat, which means the day does not end at closing.
Emotional labour nobody counts. You are absorbing children’s distress — the ones who come to school hungry, the ones showing signs of trouble at home, the ones you suspect are being hurt. You are often the only adult in a position to notice, and usually with nowhere to refer them.
Parents. Blamed for outcomes shaped by conditions outside your control, sometimes confronted publicly.
Discipline in transition. Corporal punishment is being restricted in law and in many schools, correctly. What has not arrived alongside it is training in what to do instead, so many teachers are managing large classes with fewer tools and no replacement strategy. That is a real, practical stress and it is rarely discussed honestly. Our piece on childhood trauma in adults covers why the shift matters for the children.
“Teaching is a calling.” The phrase that does the most quiet damage. It reframes poor pay and poor conditions as a test of vocation, and it makes complaining sound like a character flaw.
How it shows up
- Sunday dread, and exhaustion that half-term does not fix
- Irritability with children you genuinely care about, followed by guilt
- Cynicism creeping in — students becoming a mass rather than individuals
- Preparing less, marking later, going through the motions
- Taking it home: snapping at your own children after a day of patience with everyone else’s
- Physical symptoms — headaches, voice problems, high blood pressure, disturbed sleep
- Feeling trapped, especially mid-career with no obvious exit
If several of those are familiar, workplace burnout in Nigeria and burnout in helping professions both apply directly.
What helps
Name it as conditions, not failure. Teachers are unusually prone to reading systemic problems as personal inadequacy — a better teacher would manage this class. A better teacher would also struggle with eighty children and no materials. Getting that straight is not an excuse; it is the difference between fixing what you can and blaming yourself for what you cannot.
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Set a hard stop. Marking and preparation expand indefinitely. A fixed evening cut-off, held most days, protects the recovery that stops exhaustion becoming burnout.
Protect your voice and your body. Teachers get vocal strain, back problems and raised blood pressure at high rates. These are occupational injuries and worth treating as such.
Find two colleagues you can be honest with. Staff rooms can be places of performance. Two people you can admit a bad week to is worth more than a whole staff meeting.
Debrief the hard cases. A child you are worried about stays with you. Talking it through with a colleague or counsellor is not gossip — it is how you avoid carrying twenty of them at once.
Learn a few non-physical classroom strategies deliberately. If you were trained in an era of corporal punishment and are now working without it, that gap is worth closing actively rather than improvising under pressure every day.
Keep one identity outside teaching. Teachers are among the most likely to have their entire self-concept absorbed by the role.
The exit question
Many Nigerian teachers are considering leaving — for other sectors, or abroad, where teaching qualifications travel reasonably well.
That is a legitimate option and worth thinking about clearly rather than in exhaustion. Two things worth knowing: decisions made from burnout tend to be regretted in either direction, and moving abroad brings its own difficulties — see japa stress and settling in abroad. If you are going to decide, try to decide from a rested week rather than a bad term.
When to get help
Book something if the exhaustion no longer lifts during holidays, if you dread every morning, if you have become someone you do not recognise with the children, if your sleep has gone, or if you are irritable at home in a way that is damaging your family.
And urgently if you are having thoughts of harming yourself — our helplines are free, and coping with triggers of suicidal thoughts is worth reading today.
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Cost is the obvious barrier on a teacher’s salary. What therapy costs in Nigeria gives the current numbers, including therapists at the lower end and the free options. Evening and weekend video sessions fit around a teaching timetable.
The part worth remembering
The job is genuinely valuable, and saying so is not a substitute for paying and staffing it properly. You are permitted to find it hard, permitted to want better conditions, and permitted to get help — none of which says anything about whether you are called to it.
Frequently asked questions
Is teacher burnout common in Nigeria?
Yes. Teaching carries high burnout rates internationally, and Nigerian conditions — class sizes, pay delays, minimal support — intensify it.
Why do I feel guilty for finding teaching hard?
Largely because it is framed as a calling, which recasts poor conditions as a test of commitment. The difficulty is in the conditions, not your dedication.
How do I manage a large class without corporal punishment?
Deliberate training in behaviour-management strategies helps far more than improvising. It is a skills gap created by a policy shift, not a personal failing.
Can I afford therapy on a teacher’s salary?
There are therapists at the lower end of the range and free options. See what therapy costs in Nigeria.
Should I leave teaching?
Possibly, but try not to decide during your worst term. Decisions made from burnout are frequently regretted in both directions.
