A call to action: exploring and responding to educational developers’ workplace burnout and well-being in higher education

ABSTRACT

There is a gap in research exploring stress, burnout, and well-being within the context of educational development. The purpose of this study was to examine the concepts of burnout and workplace well-being among educational developers across the international landscape. Thematic analysis from the survey responses (n = 210) revealed characteristics around four themes that both enhanced or hindered participants’ sense of well-being: a) colleagues, b) manager/director, c) institution/senior administration, and d) workplace. Our findings highlight the need to further amplify conversations related to burnout, as well as examine and promote workplace well-being for educational developers.

KEYWORDS:

• Burnout
• educational developers
• well-being
• wellness

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all participants who completed our survey, and also want to acknowledge the Educational Developers Caucus of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education for supporting this project. We would also like to thank Emily Cehic at Queen’s University for offering her insights and perspectives in the development of the survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Educational Developers Caucus of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Notes on contributors

Klodiana Kolomitro

Klodiana Kolomitro, PhD, is the Director of Education Development in the Office of Professional Development and Educational Scholarship, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen’s University.

Natasha Kenny

Natasha Kenny, PhD, is the Senior Director of the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary.

Suzanne Le-May Sheffield

Suzanne Le-May Sheffield, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching at Dalhousie University.