A new study conducted during the Israel-Hamas war reveals that a teacher's subjective sense of stress and helplessness is a far stronger predictor of burnout than their actual physical exposure to war-related events. By surveying 329 Jewish and Arab educators, the research identified "cognitive reappraisal," the ability to mentally reframe difficult situations, as a vital protective factor that lessens the impact of war exposure on professional exhaustion. These findings suggest that personal resilience can be strengthened through targeted workshops, helping teachers maintain their mental health and efficacy during chronic national crises.

Beyond the lesson plans and grading, teachers during the war had to manage a complex layer of war-related stress that often goes unnoticed but deeply affects their ability to stay in the profession. A recent study led by PhD student Demetria Hila Neustadter with Prof. Dana Lassri and her PhD student Dana Rose Cohen from the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Noga Cohen and Dr. Joy Benatov from the Department of Special Education and the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Centre at the University of Haifa explores how high school teachers are navigating the threat of professional burnout in light of the war crisis. Conducted eight months into the war, the research surveyed 329 Jewish and Arab teachers to understand why some educators remain resilient while others feel their professional efficacy slipping away under the weight of chronic crisis.

The findings reveal a nuanced picture of emotional resilience, suggesting that it is not necessarily the objective number of war-related events a teacher experiences, such as evacuation or knowing someone injured, that leads to burnout, but rather the subjective emotional distress and sense of helplessness those events trigger. This distinction is vital for education decision-makers, as it shifts the focus from simply tracking a teacher's "exposure" to actively addressing their internal emotional state. "Our findings emphasize that during these times of enduring stress, it is the subjective experience of war-related stress that truly predicts burnout, rather than the objective exposure to war events," says Prof. Lassri. "This suggests that to support our educators, we must look beyond their external circumstances and address the emotional weight they carry into the classroom every day".

Central to the study is the protective power of "cognitive reappraisal", an emotion regulation strategy where an individual reframes a difficult situation to change its emotional impact. The data showed that teachers who habitually used this strategy reported significantly lower levels of burnout. Essentially, the ability to reinterpret adversity acted as a psychological buffer, weakening the link between war exposure and the physical and mental exhaustion that defines burnout. This suggests that resilience is not a fixed trait but a skill that can be fostered even in the most high-intensity environments.

"These results highlight the critical role of emotion regulation as a protective factor for teachers' mental health during major crises," notes Prof. Noga Cohen. "By promoting simple yet effective strategies like cognitive reappraisal through professional development and workshops, we can provide teachers with the tools they need to maintain their resilience and continue supporting their students even in the face of ongoing conflict", concludes PhD student Demetria Hila Neustadter.
This is particularly important given that teachers’ burnout has critical implications not only for their own mental health, but also for the psychological well-being of the students who depend on them. For the education system, the message is clear: investing in the emotional toolkit of teachers is not just a matter of wellness, but a necessary strategy for maintaining the stability of the entire educational infrastructure during times of national crisis.