The Educator by Brett Henebery 29 October, 2025
School teachers and leaders across Australia are under more pressure than ever as longer hours, heavier workloads and rising expectations take their toll.
In a UNSW study published in August, more than two-thirds (68.8%) of teachers surveyed described their workload as “largely or completely unmanageable”, with a staggering 90% reporting “severe stress”.
However, research shows many Australian schools still rely on one-off PD days to address burnout, a quick fix that might lift spirits for a day but rarely delivers lasting change.
At Loreto Normanhurst, an independent Catholic, primary and secondary day and boarding school for girls on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, high-quality professional development is deeply embedded within the school’s culture.
In 2023, the school created the ‘Open Learning Circle’ program (OLC) – a unique fortnightly forum for teachers which involves professional learning groups, each made up of between five to eight teaching staff, who focus on an aspect of pedagogy each school term. Focal areas include deep learning, leveraging digital technologies, and social-emotional learning.
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