Occupational wellbeing in EU education ⁄ Visionary Analytics

Psychosocial wellbeing is a fundamental component of occupational safety and health (OSH), covering physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing at work. Psychosocial risks are the aspects of work related to its design, management, and social and organisational contexts that have the potential to cause harm. Exposure to psychosocial risks can accumulate over time and lead to chronic work-related stress.

In the context of education, psychosocial wellbeing of education professionals is important not just for their individual health and professional satisfaction but also for ensuring the overall effectiveness and resilience of the entire education system. Teachers, school leaders, counsellors, support staff, and other education personnel are integral to shaping the academic and personal development of children and young people, and their mental and psychological states influence the quality of education they provide

Europe’s education sector felt the impact of the Covid-19 crisis acutely: schools shut down overnight, moving all teaching activities online. This meant adopting new digital tools and communication systems for many educators for the very first time. Work and learning environments blurred as educators invited virtually their entire classes into their homes. Even once schools reopened, the challenges persisted: from hybrid learning and significant learning gaps to increased behavioural issues among students. The COVID-19 crisis has contributed to challenging working conditions and the rise and prevalence of psychosocial risks. Our study aimed to examine the pandemic’s lasting impact.

Our study

This study was carried out to provide research and analytical support to the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and European Federation for Education Employers (EFEE) in implementing the project APRES COVID: European Sectoral Social Partners in Education Addressing Psychosocial Risks for an Equitable and Sustainable Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, co-funded by the European Commission.

The research employed a comprehensive, mixed-methods approach:

Desk research and a literature review
Online survey targeting education trade unions and education employers across Europe
Three case studies in Slovenia, Portugal and Malta

Key findings

Working time and work-life balance issues generally intensified during the COVID-19 crisis as the sudden shift to remote teaching further blurred the line between professional and personal life. Notably, the difficulty of disconnecting from work that educators continue to experience today is not primarily a consequence of COVID-19, and its lasting impact on the work environment. Rather, the ubiquitousness of constant connectivity in all parts of life reflects an ongoing shift on a societal level – an evolution that may have been made more apparent during the crisis, but certainly was not the primary cause of it.
Despite the technological progress on a societal level, not all educational institutions and educators were adequately prepared for the rapid digitalisation of the sector, though many were already progressing toward it at varying pace before the COVID-19 crisis. Many educators learned new technologies virtually overnight, with such pressures leading to increased workloads and heightened stress levels among education professionals, generally amplifying pre-existing psychosocial risks. COVID-19 acted as a stress test that magnified questions related to workload intensity, work-life balance, and technological gaps that had been latent or insufficiently addressed previously. Importantly, the improved digitalisation of the sector is often cited as one of the key positive outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis. Many educators continue to use the technologies and tools adopted during the pandemic to increase their work efficiency and streamline communication in their daily work to this day.

Changes in working conditions driven by the COVID-19 crisis have affected educators’ mental health. Both scientific and anecdotal evidence from across Europe support the idea that stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout among education professionals have increased during and after the COVID-19 crisis. Reports indicate that exhaustion and mental strain have to some extent increased, reflecting how the crisis added extra psychosocial pressures to an already demanding job. However, concerns about work-related mental health issues in the education sector existed before COVID-19, though they received less public attention. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the COVID-19 crisis worsened these underlying problems or simply highlighted them and led to more open discussion and reporting.

High workloads, long working hours and chronic stress are commonly cited problems in the sector and have likely contributed to a growing teacher shortage. The crisis’ impact has pushed some educators to leave the profession or retire early, and has, in some cases, discouraged potential new teachers from entering the field. The global crisis placed immense pressure on the education sector, however, education systems in Europe have been under multiple sources of pressure for some time. This reality is reflected in Europe-wide teacher shortages, with 24 out of 27 European Union (EU) Member States reporting significant staff shortages.

Key takeaways

Times of crises highlight the true nature of the profession – Education is an immensely meaningful profession built on educators’ dedication, genuine care, and determination.
The COVID crisis gave way to more open discussion about mental health at work, and the working conditions affecting occupational wellbeing.
Collegial support played a key role in managing PSRs during and following COVID.

Nevertheless, the issues highlighted by COVID-19 are not entirely new problems arising from the COVID-19 crisis, but also structural weaknesses that the crisis has exposed. Issues related to underinvestment, workload intensification, and varying adequacy of support for educators predated COVID-19. As a result of the crisis, however, we can now see more clearly that working conditions and mental health are inextricably linked to the quality of education. The wellbeing and commitment of educators are the basis for the success of students and the resilience of whole educational systems, and the strength of societies. Therefore, safeguarding the psychosocial health of education professionals is not just a matter of worker welfare but should be regarded as a strategic priority for policymakers and the broader educational community.