The Hidden Cost of Teaching Today
Teaching has always been fuelled by passion and care. But in 2025, those alone aren’t enough to keep up with the pressures.
Across the U.S. and UK, teachers report working 50+ hours a week. Evenings disappear into marking, weekends into lesson prep, and precious planning time is swallowed by admin. Oversized classes, accountability pressures, and staff shortages add extra weight.
The external pain is obvious: unmanageable workload. The internal impact is harder to see but deeply felt: exhaustion, stress, and a creeping sense of being undervalued. Burnout has become the norm, not the exception.
💡 If you’re curious how AI could ease your own workload, explore Timblio Coaching. We work one-to-one or with schools to build confidence, cut stress, and make AI practical for real classrooms.
When Time Runs Out, So Does Energy
Teachers often describe the profession as a “spiral.”
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Extra duties cut into planning time.
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Lessons feel weaker, leading to more behaviour challenges.
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Stress rises, creating even longer hours.
The result? Teachers leave—or think about leaving—in alarming numbers. The leaky bucket of the profession is draining faster than schools can fill it.
A Texas Experiment: AI in the Classroom
In Texas, some districts are taking a different approach. Instead of piling more onto teachers’ plates, they’re giving them a tool to ease the load: AI.
Teachers are beginning to use tools like ChatGPT to take on the repetitive parts of the job:
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Drafting lesson plans.
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Generating quiz questions.
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Summarising long texts into student-friendly notes.
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Drafting feedback that teachers can personalise.
The early impact? Teachers are reclaiming hours each week. That time is going back into what matters most: students, creativity, and wellbeing.
This isn’t about replacing teachers. It’s about relieving them—using AI as a supportive assistant rather than a competing authority.
✨ At Timblio, we’ve created a teacher-first membership community where we work alongside you to develop AI use in real classrooms. Together, we focus on reducing workload, cutting stress, and giving you back time—without the jargon. If that sounds like what you need, we’d love to welcome you.
