How does the mental health and wellbeing of teachers compare to other professions? Evidence from eleven survey datasets

John Jerrim, Sam Sims, Rebecca Allen () and Hannah Taylor
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John Jerrim: UCL Social Research Institute
Sam Sims: UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities
Hannah Taylor: University of Oxford

No 20-18, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: There is growing concern about the mental health and wellbeing of teachers globally, with the stress caused by the job thought to be a key factor driving many to leave the profession. It is often claimed that teachers have worse mental health and wellbeing outcomes than other occupational groups. Yet academic evidence on this matter remains limited, with some studies supporting this notion, while a handful of others do not. We contribute to this debate by providing the largest, most comprehensive analysis of differences in mental health and wellbeing between teachers and other professional workers to date. Drawing upon data from across eleven social surveys, we find little evidence that teachers have worse health and wellbeing outcomes than other occupational groups. Research in this area should shift away from whether teachers are disproportionately affected by such issues towards strengthening the evidence on the likely drivers of mental ill-health within the education profession.

Keywords: Teachers; wellbeing; mental health; occupational comparisons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lab
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