The COVID-19 pandemic had a transformative impact on European education systems, resulting in unprecedented health, economic, and social crises. These changes not only exacerbated existing issues but also created new occupational challenges, with psychosocial risks in the teaching profession becoming urgent concerns. This crisis significantly intensified stressors associated with psychological risks for education workers. In response, the European Sectoral Social Partners in Education are collaboratively addressing these challenges to ensure an equitable and sustainable recovery from the pandemic. They prioritize the well-being of educators, students, and school staff by promoting supportive working environments, implementing effective health and safety measures, and providing adequate mental health resources. Through this proactive approach, they aim to foster resilience and strengthen education systems across Europe to better navigate future challenges in the post-pandemic era.
We are thrilled to announce that our team embarked on a new project that aims to provide research and analytical support to the European education social partners (ETUCE and EFEE) in implementing a project “APRES COVID: European Sectoral Social Partners in Education Addressing Psychosocial Risks for an Equitable and Sustainable Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis”. This includes:
- Identifying key psychosocial risks faced by teachers and other education professionals after the COVID pandemic and estimating the scale of challenges / risks.
- Identifying good practices in addressing these risks.
- Supporting social partners in impact assessment and revision of “Joint Practical Guidelines on How to Promote Joint Social Partner Initiatives at European, National, Regional and Local Level to Prevent and Combat Psychosocial Hazards in Education (2016)”
- Supporting social partners in the implementation of case studies, training, final conference, and other dissemination / awareness-raising campaigns.
- Contributing to the strengthening of social dialogue and collective bargaining at the EU, national, and local levels.
The study is expected to be finished by September 2025.
