Supporting Teacher Mental Health: Easing the Burden With Open LMS

When we talk about learning management systems (LMSs), we’re often primarily focused on how the platform will benefit students. When the benefits to teachers are considered, it’s often in terms of how a solution will improve delivery of their teaching to students.

However, teachers are truly the foundation of an LMS. If they don’t use the platform effectively, students won’t engage with it. If teachers are resistant to change, the entire project—and its potential benefits—can fall short. Without their buy-in, it’s challenging to fully realize the benefits of the system.

At a recent event at the De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute in the Philippines, we explored how the pressures educators face, from heavy workloads to systemic challenges, impact their mental health. Let’s revisit these insights and discuss strategies to better support teachers and ensure both their wellbeing and success in their vital roles.

The 6 Biggest Hurdles to Teachers' Mental Health

Teachers face a variety of challenges that impact their mental wellbeing. These hurdles not only affect educators but also have far-reaching consequences for students and institutions alike:

1) Heavy Workloads and Large Class Sizes

Teachers often juggle excessive administrative tasks and large class sizes, which leaves them with limited opportunities to interact meaningfully with students. In the Philippines, teachers work an average of 12.7 hours a day—significantly longer than their contractual obligations. Similarly, educators in the U.S., UK, and Japan also work extended hours, averaging 10.6, 10.5, and 11.3 hours per day, respectively. These demanding schedules underscore the significant strain teachers face in balancing high educational standards with their own self-care.

2) Financial Stress and Insufficient Compensation

In many countries, educators are underpaid despite their essential contributions to society. In the U.S., only 34% of teachers report satisfaction with their base salary, compared to 61% of employed adults. In Latin America, a 2021 report revealed that teachers across the region face severe job insecurity, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges are especially acute wherever systemic underfunding, limited resources, and unstable teaching roles compound the financial and emotional toll on educators.

3) Lack of Mental Health Support and Resources

Teachers often face a lack of institutional resources to support their mental wellbeing. Globally, burnout remains a critical issue:

• In the U.S., 64% of faculty report experiencing burnout.
• In Colombia, 50% of teachers face moderate to severe burnout levels.
• In the UK, burnout is one of the strongest predictors of teachers' intentions to leave the profession.
• In the Philippines, 83% of surveyed educators reported feeling burned out from work.
• In Japan, teachers regularly work over 11 hours per day, which is much longer than the standard daily workday stipulated by the government.
• Additionally, 35% of U.S. K-12 and higher education workers state they "always" or "very often" feel burned out, the highest rate across all industries.

These statistics highlight the widespread prevalence of burnout in education, with unique challenges emerging in different regions. Without adequate support, addressing these complex issues becomes increasingly difficult.

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4) Cultural Stigma Around Mental Health

Mental health issues remain a taboo topic in many communities. In Cuba, a survey revealed that a substantial portion of teachers reported symptoms of mild depression (56.2%), moderate anxiety (45.1%), and moderate stress (42.9%). Similarly, in the UK, 53% of university staff show signs of depression. Yet stigmas often prevent open dialogue and support. These attitudes discourage educators from seeking help and perpetuate a culture of silence.

5) Pressure to Adapt to Challenging Conditions

External disruptions can force frequent class cancellations and curriculum adjustments. For example, the Philippines experiences over 20 storms annually. While a canceled class might mean an unexpected break for students, for teachers, it means reworking curriculum plans, often with minimal notice, to ensure educational continuity. This added workload exacerbates their already substantial responsibilities.

6) Lack of Work-Life Balance

Teachers not only face long work hours but also contend with daily commutes of 1–2 hours each way in some regions, leaving little time for personal needs or family. In the UK, 21% of academics work an additional 16 hours per week beyond their contracted hours. This imbalance erodes their ability to rest, recharge, and maintain healthy relationships.

How Valuable Can Five Minutes Be?

Five minutes can mean grabbing a quick cup of coffee, watering a plant, or taking a brief moment to check emails or social media. Yet, in the context of a teacher’s workload, five minutes can also be an opportunity to streamline a task, engage a student, or take a much-needed pause.

When leveraged effectively, these small windows of time can accumulate into significant improvements in productivity and mental wellbeing. Recognizing the value of these moments underscores the importance of tools and strategies that help teachers work smarter, not harder.

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6 Ways of Harnessing Open LMS to Ease the Burden

Could you complete a report, generate lesson plans, or craft personalized learning interventions in just five minutes? With Open LMS, these small pockets of time become powerful opportunities to ease workloads and enhance teaching. Here’s how:

1) Customizable Reporting With ORE

The Open Reports Engine (ORE) empowers teachers and administrators to take control of their data with ease, offering intuitive tools for building and customizing reports without requiring technical expertise. Teachers can automate and schedule reports, saving hours of manual work and avoiding late evenings spent responding to last-minute requests.

ORE also includes data visualizations in formats such as bar, pie, and donut charts, all of which can be integrated directly into dashboards for at-a-glance insights. Whether tracking student progress, visualizing enrollment trends, or ensuring compliance with reporting standards, ORE simplifies the process and allows educators to make informed decisions quickly and effectively.

2) Personalized Learning Designer (PLD)

PLD, an exclusive Open LMS plugin, simplifies student engagement by using automated interventions tailored to individual needs. For example, it can identify students who haven’t logged in, provide action plans for those struggling with assessments, or deliver supplementary resources to support learning. PLD allows educators to create and automate these interventions in three simple steps: identifying key behaviors, designing personalized action plans, and setting automation rules.

3) Interactive Content with H5P

H5P, natively integrated into Open LMS, empowers educators to transform traditional content into dynamic, interactive learning experiences. Short for HTML5 Package, H5P allows users to create quizzes, hot-spot graphics, and multimedia-rich videos directly in their browsers, eliminating the need for plugins or advanced technical skills. The results from these interactive assessments seamlessly integrate into gradebooks, streamlining processes and improving accountability.

H5P offers an array of content types, including flashcards, drag-and-drop activities, branching scenarios, and interactive textbooks. Its ease of use and flexibility make it an invaluable tool for crafting lessons that are not just educational but engaging for diverse learning styles, helping educators connect with their students more effectively.

4) AI-Assisted Content Creation

Open LMS revolutionizes crafting engaging learning materials with its AI-Assisted Editor for TinyMCE. This tool streamlines content creation by letting educators generate polished course materials, including text, HTML, and CSS, without requiring technical expertise.

The tool allows educators to easily summarize complex ideas, create concise bullet points, and translate content into 13 languages at the click of a button. By using the AI-Assisted Editor for TinyMCE, educators can ensure their materials are accessible and tailored to diverse learning needs, giving them more time to focus on creating effective teaching strategies.

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5) Get Even More From AI With TeacherMatic

Available in partnership with Open LMS, TeacherMatic is an AI-driven solution that simplifies the creation of a diverse range of educational materials. With over 70 AI-powered tools, TeacherMatic allows educators to easily generate lesson plans, quizzes, rubrics, discussion prompts, and even curriculum-aligned schemes of work.

For example, TeacherMatic’s AI Rubric Generator streamlines assessment criteria, while its Class Question Generator promotes thought-provoking classroom discussions. These features free up teachers to focus on other, more meaningful teaching tasks, such as student engagement, while ensuring that their resources are comprehensive, high-quality, and tailored to diverse learning needs.

6) Offline Access

One of the standout features of the Open LMS mobile app is its robust offline functionality. Designed for both iOS and Android devices, the app allows learners to download course materials, complete assignments, and even take quizzes without an internet connection. Once back online, all progress syncs seamlessly, ensuring no work is lost. Instructors can also take advantage of this feature by grading assignments offline, making it an invaluable tool for maintaining educational continuity during unexpected disruptions.

A Shared Responsibility

Mental health is a growing conversation globally, but in many places, it still takes a backseat to other priorities. Teachers are the foundation of every nation, shaping lives and futures. Yet, as the saying goes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” More than just reducing workloads, supporting educators involves fostering an environment where they feel valued, empowered, and equipped to thrive. Institutions must prioritize professional development, provide flexible tools, and actively promote mental health awareness to create a sustainable future for education.