TALIS Study Shows: Mental Strain in the Teaching Profession is Increasing

A large majority (93 percent) of Austria's teachers are satisfied with their work, according to the current OECD study TALIS 2024. This is three percentage points less than in the 2018 survey, but still more than the average of the 54 OECD countries and regions surveyed. However, currently one-fifth often feel stressed, which is an increase of 8 percentage points. Nine percent say that their mental health is severely affected by their job (OECD: 8).

Teachers are satisfied – but more stressed than before

Both in terms of working conditions and income, the satisfaction of local teachers is significantly higher than the average of other countries. Accordingly, eight out of ten educators stated in TALIS that they would choose the teaching profession again or that their profession offers significantly more advantages than disadvantages. There are slight differences in satisfaction depending on the location, with satisfaction being slightly higher in rural areas than in cities (97 compared to 90 percent).

According to the survey, female teaching staff and teachers under 30 feel stressed more often. However, the stress is not caused by working with the children themselves, as OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher emphasized in an online press conference. The most common triggers mentioned were too many administrative tasks, additional tasks due to absent teachers such as substitutions, and maintaining discipline in the classroom.

Young and female teachers more often affected

Female and younger or less experienced teachers more often struggle with problematic student behavior: They report more frequently than their more experienced colleagues that at least one-tenth of their students show behavioral problems. Overall, a quarter of the teachers in TALIS reported losing quite a bit of teaching time because students disrupt the class (OECD average: 18 percent). Consequently, one-sixth of the lesson is spent creating a classroom climate in which teaching is possible. This is a slightly higher value than in 2018.

Lack of support staff remains a problem

According to TALIS, another stress factor - in Austria as well as in other countries - is the large number of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Schleicher attributed this to the fact that there is often too little support staff to adequately care for these students.

In Austria, 60 percent of the directors surveyed this time stated that there is too little support staff such as school psychologists or social workers at their location. This is eight percentage points more than in the last survey, despite the fact that funding for support staff has been increased in recent years. Both in the OECD and EU comparison, Austria is particularly lacking in support. There, only about a third reported a lack of support staff.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.