Supporting Student and Educator Well-Being to Strengthen Teaching and Learning

WHEREAS, educators are the foundation of public education, and their well-being is essential to a healthy, stable and effective learning environment. Educator well-being is not a luxury; it is a prerequisite for student well-being. And yet, educators across the country continue to face occupational hazards, including chronic stress, heavy workloads, staff shortages, violence and inadequate policies that undermine their mental, emotional and professional well-being, resulting in burnout and an educator shortage at precisely the moment our schools need more support, not less¹; and

WHEREAS, student mental health needs have intensified nationwide, and many schools and communities continue to lack sufficient counselors, social workers, psychologists and other specialized instructional support personnel (SISP) to meet those needs²; and

WHEREAS, the harmful effects of excessive screen time and addictive algorithms embedded in social media platforms and digital applications on student mental health are well-documented and widely recognized as leading to depression, anxiety, diminished academic engagement and displacement of in-person peer interaction, which is critical for social-emotional development³; and 43 states and Puerto Rico have implemented laws or policies on K-12 classroom or school cellphone use as of April 10, 2026⁴ (reflecting broad public recognition that this crisis demands urgent, coordinated action); and

WHEREAS, recent legislative and administrative curbs on educator speech have created a “chilling effect,” undermining professional autonomy and the ability of educators to employ pedagogically sound teaching methods that develop critical-thinking skills, which require an environment of open inquiry and protected speech; and 

WHEREAS, educators across the country face unprecedented and coordinated efforts to silence their voices—in their classrooms, their communities and their private lives—through curriculum censorship laws, book bans, restrictions on open inquiry and state-sponsored investigations and retaliation targeting educators for constitutionally protected speech; these attacks on educator voice create a climate of fear and self-censorship that undermines professional autonomy, drives moral injury and burnout, and destabilizes the trusted educator-student relationships that are foundational for student well-being and academic success; and

WHEREAS, research powerfully confirms that educator well-being is directly and positively linked to student well-being, learning and achievement; a 2024 review of empirical studies found positive relationships between teacher well-being and student well-being in 93 percent of studies, and positive relationships between teacher well-being and student learning and achievement in 84 percent of studies—making the case that investing in educator well-being is inseparable from investing in student success⁵; and

WHEREAS, the AFT’s Beyond Burnout report in partnership with Educators Thriving⁶ demonstrates that when educators receive meaningful, system-level support through structured labor-management collaboration, their well-being improves in measurable ways, including a 97 percent return rate the following year among participants, a 10 percent decrease in emotional exhaustion, and universal gains in job satisfaction among professional learning participants⁷; and

WHEREAS, evidence also shows that when educators are supported and thriving, they are better able to build stronger relationships with students, deliver more effective instruction, manage classrooms productively and sustain positive school climate; and

WHEREAS, policies that improve educator well-being must address the systemic conditions that drive burnout—including working conditions, staffing levels, responsive leadership, collaboration time and access to mental health supports—rather than relying solely on individual resilience strategies that place the burden of a structural problem on individual educators:

RESOLVED, that the AFT calls for robust federal, state and local investment in educator well-being as a core public education priority, including dedicated funding for mental health support, full staffing in education settings with credentialed professionals, such as SISPs and trained support staff with reasonable workloads, peer support and evidence-based wellness programming; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT calls on state and local governments to establish sustainable funding streams for workplace practices that encourage positive educator well-being, including professional learning on trauma-informed and restorative practices, mentorship, employee assistance supports and programs that reduce burnout and strengthen retention; and

RESOLVED, that educators—who possess deep experiential knowledge of their students’ social-emotional development—must be key voices in developing and implementing state and local policies and practices for age-appropriate, in-school technology use for students; moreover, the AFT will advocate for educator involvement in technology selection to ensure that educators are the pedagogical gatekeepers who distinguish between tools that drive learning, critical thinking and collaboration versus passive screen time; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will support capacity building so that educators have the tools to recognize and address the invisible stressors students face online and to be able to teach digital and algorithmic literacy; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT calls for partnerships with district, worksite and union leaders to develop tailored, systemwide tools aimed at transforming workplace conditions and improving staff retention, using an evidence-backed survey tool⁸ to measure and track the well-being of entire school communities, helping leaders and educators identify specific areas for improvement; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to advocate for comprehensive health services for students, as well as for the working conditions needed to deliver them effectively, and urge policymakers to increase the hiring and retention of SISPs, paraprofessionals and other student support personnel, and to provide protected time for educators to plan, collaborate and access support; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT supports school and district policies that improve educator working conditions, including manageable workloads, safe and respectful school climates, adequate and stable staffing, and leadership practices that promote trust, autonomy and professional growth; and

RESOLVED, that educator voice is central to defining what constitutes educator well-being and workplace needs; moreover, that the AFT urges the collection and public reporting of data on educator well-being, specifically burnout, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, attendance, retention, workload and access to well-being supports, disaggregated by school, district and role where feasible, to guide improvement and accountability; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT, together with its affiliates and coalition partners, will continue to defend educator free speech and academic freedom, recognizing that protecting educator voice is not separate from protecting educator well-being—it is essential to it; when educators are free to teach with integrity, engage their communities and exercise their professional judgment without fear of retaliation, they are better able to show up fully for their students; and 

RESOLVED, that the AFT and its affiliates affirm the First Amendment rights of educators to speak as professionals and citizens on matters of public concern and personal interest, and shall actively defend these rights by filing or joining legal challenges against any federal or state effort to chill educator speech, restrict classroom inquiry or punish educators for exercising their rights; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirms that educator well-being is inseparable from student success, and that any serious effort to improve student outcomes must also improve the conditions under which educators work, learn and thrive.

Adopted July 19, 2026

^ 1 H. Kurtz, “The Teachers Are Not All Right”.

^ 2 A. Prothero, “Schools Feel Less Equipped to Meet Students’ Mental Health Needs Than a Few Years Ago”.

^ 3 R. Santos et al., “The Associations Between Screen Time and Mental Health in Adolescents”. 

^ 4 Ballotpedia, “State Policies on Cellphone Use in K-12 Public Schools”.

^ 5 B. Dreer, “On the Outcomes of Teacher Wellbeing”.

^ 6 AFT, “Beyond Burnout”.

^ 7 Educators Thriving, “Our Impact”.

^ 8 Educators Thriving, “Measuring & Understanding Educator Well-Being”.