Teacher work causes burnout. This is supported by a recent study by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, a body of the European Union. But in Italy, despite the Milanese doctor Vittorio Lodolo D'Oria having denounced the issue for over twenty years, little has been done to protect the mental health of teachers and professors. And in our country, dealing with increasingly pretentious parents, managing bureaucratic aspects, governing classes with still very low salaries and poor social consideration contributes to creating greater stress.
The study
The in-depth analysis published by the Agency explains that at a European level "almost 50% of lower secondary school teachers experience stress at work, while 24% of teachers report that their work has a negative impact on their mental health and 22% on their physical health". In one word: "burnout", which in English means "burnt", exploded. The study states that “the work environments of teaching professionals differ significantly from those of offices, healthcare and service sectors and industrial work environments”.
The requests
The demands placed on teachers are of three types: "Quantitative demands, such as workload and time constraints; cognitive demands, which involve the mental effort needed to carry out one's tasks; and emotional demands, which include managing emotionally intense situations and carrying out emotional work". Faculty are therefore "exposed to significant psychosocial risks in the workplace, which include high workloads, emotional demands, limited autonomy, job insecurity and exposure to violence. These factors impact mental health, well-being and quality of work, with possible repercussions on recruitment, retention and learning by the student body".
The teacher's work
The European report also explains how teachers' work is carried out: "71.5% of the workload of lower secondary school teachers is related to teaching, while the remaining time is divided between maintaining order and discipline (13%) and carrying out administrative tasks (8%), such as registering attendance and distributing information or school forms".
The Italian situation
Managing conflicts between students, dealing with the increasingly pressing demands of parents, which often lead to violence, verbal or otherwise, managing relationships with colleagues, taking on bureaucratic work that increases year after year, with the compilation of forms and documents of all kinds and increasingly complex, following the chats and messages of the principal's staff at any time of the day or night. And again. Working well beyond 25 hours a week in nursery school, 24 hours a week in primary school and 18 hours a week in middle school and high school, preparing lessons and dedicating oneself to teaching with advancing age and increasingly digital pupils in Italy makes the teacher's job increasingly complex. And a source of stress for those who face it. Not to mention the considerable number of substitute teachers, at least 250 thousand, who every year have to change schools, recalibrate themselves, face the costs of expensive transfers and adapt to ever-changing situations. Also because, despite recent contract renewals, wages remain at European minimums and social consideration is certainly not at historic highs.
The decalogue of good practices
The study lists ten good practices adopted by some countries to improve the working lives of teachers. To better address the changes imposed by technology and the introduction of artificial intelligence, online training courses on digital technologies and innovative teaching methodologies have been launched in some countries. In Finland, teacher mentors have been identified “to strengthen the continuing professional development of teachers through peer tutoring”. In Denmark, the Danish Building Research Institute has launched the project that rethinks school spaces through the creation of "open-plan areas for teaching and group work". Austria has launched an “awareness campaign on the health and well-being of teachers”. The Netherlands has taken responsibility for "promoting the well-being of teachers through a job crafting intervention": an approach that allows the worker to make their work more meaningful and motivating. Spain has organized a “teacher support” service. While the European social partners have written "the guidelines to prevent and combat professional risks in education". Several European countries and regions (Catalonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus, Bulgaria) have adopted OiRAs: interactive online tools for teacher risk assessment. Among the good practices also identified is Italy with "the right to disconnect" provided for in the employment contract: after a certain time, one is no longer required to scroll through official messages and circulars.
