The growing effect of job demands on teacher mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey.

BACKGROUND

Teacher mental health is an important predictor of student outcomes and teacher workforce retention, and has been declining for some years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The various causes of this trend have been speculated to include a workforce that is younger and less experienced, as well as increasing work demands.

METHODS

We evaluated the trends in teacher mental health between 2005 to 2022, using the 5-item Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) from the annual Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. We tested whether the trend was due to changes in non-work related factors (i.e., changes in workforce composition), or due to workplace risk factors (i.e., high job demands and low autonomy).

RESULTS

Teacher mental health was stable to 2011 then declined from a median of 80 (IQR 68-88) to 76 (IQR 60-97) MHI-5. The decline was not explained by changes in the workforce composition. The prevalence of high job demands was stable over this period (53% to 55%) while low autonomy and control increased from 34 to 58%, especially after 2018. At the same time, the strength of the association of high job demands with poor mental health increased from 1.32 [95%CI -0.45 to 3.09] MHI-5 units to 4.91 [3.34 to 6.47] MHI-5 units.

CONCLUSIONS

The decline in teacher's mental health was partly explained by an increasing sensitivity to job demands. Given the reported level of demands did not increase, addressing the reduction in job autonomy over time (which enables workers to cope with high demands) may improve policies to support teacher mental health and workforce retention.