Beyond Self-Care: Building Sustainable Wellbeing for International Teachers
If you’ve ever sat through a professional development session about “teacher self-care,” you probably remember the advice: take a walk, light a candle, drink more water. And while those things are nice—they’re not enough.
For international teachers, the realities of stress and burnout go far beyond bubble baths and mindfulness apps. Many are teaching in high-pressure schools, navigating cultural differences, isolation, and constant transitions. When wellbeing is framed as an individual responsibility, it can feel like just another item on an already overflowing to-do list.
The Problem with “Just Take Care of Yourself”
The truth is, you can’t self-care your way out of a toxic system. Teachers are often told to manage their stress without being given the structural support to make that possible. Extended workloads, unclear boundaries, and the expectation of constant adaptability make true rest almost impossible.
In international schools, those pressures can be amplified by cultural expectations. Teachers may feel pressure to maintain a “positive expat” image or worry that expressing struggle will affect contract renewal. Many live on campus, blurring the line between work and home. Without strong wellbeing frameworks, even the most passionate educators eventually burn out.
Self-care matters—but it’s not the whole story.
From Individual Coping to Collective Care
Sustainable wellbeing starts with community, not isolation. Teachers need spaces to connect, debrief, and feel understood. Regular peer supervision groups, reflective circles, or staff wellbeing check-ins can normalize emotional processing and reduce stigma.
International schools that prioritize collective care create environments where teachers don’t just survive—they feel valued. Leadership can model this by:
Building time for collaboration and reflection into the schedule
Offering access to confidential counselling or supervision
Encouraging open conversations about workload and boundaries
Recognizing emotional labor as part of the job, not a side effect
When wellbeing is shared, it becomes sustainable.
Rethinking Resilience
“Resilience” is another word that’s often misunderstood in education. It’s not about pushing through or pretending everything is fine. Real resilience is about flexibility and connection—the ability to bend without breaking because you’re supported.
For international teachers, resilience might look like asking for help when you need it, setting limits on extra duties, or taking time to process the emotional impact of transition and loss. It might also mean questioning systems that normalize overwork.
The most resilient schools are not those that demand constant endurance, but those that make rest and reflection part of the culture.
Leadership and Systemic Change
Sustainable wellbeing has to start at the top. School leaders play a critical role in creating conditions where teachers can thrive. That means realistic expectations, transparent communication, and clear boundaries around workload. It also means listening—to what teachers actually need, not just what looks good on a wellbeing poster.
Schools that take wellbeing seriously treat it as part of safeguarding. Because when teachers are overwhelmed, students feel it. When teachers are grounded, students benefit. Wellbeing is not a luxury—it’s a professional responsibility.
Coming Back to Yourself
For teachers reading this: you are the foundation of every classroom you walk into. Taking care of yourself isn’t selfish; it’s essential. But it’s okay if you can’t do it all alone. You’re not supposed to.
Reach out—to colleagues, to mentors, to therapists who understand the unique context of international education. Seek spaces that nourish you, not just demand more of you.
You deserve more than “self-care.” You deserve a system that cares for you too.
If your school community is ready to move beyond surface-level wellbeing and build something more sustainable, I offer trauma-informed workshops and consultation for international educators and leaders. Together, we can shift from burnout culture to a culture of care.
