The return to class has not meant a return to normal for many teachers. Students need more help to recover both academically and emotionally from pandemic disruptions. Staffing shortages mean more teachers are overworked and overwhelmed. And many still come to school at risk of illness from COVID-19.
All those stressors take a toll on teachers’ mental health. Regardless of whether they taught in person or online, teachers have experienced significantly higher rates of anxiety during the pandemic—even more than health-care workers, according to a new study, published this morning in Educational Researcher, a journal of the American Educational Research Association. It’s based on a survey of millions of American workers conducted over seven months in 2020 and 2021.
The challenge of remote instruction did affect teachers’ mental health. Remote teachers were 60 percent more likely to report feeling socially isolated than their colleagues who were back in the classroom, and remote teachers also showed more symptoms of depression than in-person teachers.
Stress, Burnout, Depression: Teachers and Principals Are Not Doing Well, New Data Confirm
Madeline Will
, June 15, 2022
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6 min read
However, the study found that nearly 18 percent of both remote and in-person teachers showed significant anxiety symptoms during the pandemic—such as trouble sleeping or panic attacks—suggesting severe stresses that are less likely to relax as schools return to pre-pandemic instruction.
Teachers in the study were 40 percent more likely to report symptoms of anxiety than health-care workers, 30 percent more likely than those in military or farming professions, and 20 percent more likely than office workers.
“I think an argument can be made that healthcare workers know how to act in these high-stress situations. They’ve dealt with extreme scenarios before and it’s a part of their training,” said Joseph Kush, an assistant psychology professor at James Madison University and co-author of the study. “Unfortunately now, teachers are being exposed to that as well.”
Kush said he had been expecting older teachers would be “COVID cautious” and have higher rates of anxiety as a result of health concerns, but the study showed teachers under 30 were more likely to show anxiety and depression than those over 50.
“You know, someone who is fresh out of college in their first years of teaching, it’s all new. It might be very overwhelming. They might not have gone through a global pandemic,” Kush said. “So I think, older teachers may have been in the profession and dealt with emergencies, so they’re just kind of all-around better equipped” to deal with ongoing stress, even though the pandemic was new to them as well.
Researchers analyzed survey data from nearly 3 million U.S. employees—including 130,000 pre-K-12 teachers—who participated in the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey from September 2020 through March 2021. That survey, conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Delphi Group and Facebook, asked workers about their symptoms of anxiety, depression, and isolation during the prior seven days.
Kush said the study did not distinguish mental health symptoms for teachers of different racial or ethnic backgrounds, grade levels, or subject areas. However, it did find that women teachers and other workers had much higher symptoms of mental health problems than their male peers. They were 20 percent more likely to feel isolated, 40 percent more likely to show depression, and nearly twice as likely to show symptoms of anxiety.
Studies mount on teachers’ stress
The study is just the latest and most nationally comprehensive of a slew of new research on the pandemic’s effects on teachers’ mental health. Earlier this summer, the RAND Corp. found nearly 60 percent of teachers report they are burned out, compared to 44 percent of other workers. The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, reported that more than half of their teachers in 2021 said they were more likely to quit or retire early because of ongoing job stress.
Even before the pandemic, studies have shown teachers to report higher stress than those in other professions. But high anxiety is different and can be more damaging to teachers’ relationships with students and their likelihood to continue teaching. Students of highly anxious teachers can both perform worse academically—particularly in subjects like math—and have more negative feelings and behavior.
In a separate survey this summer, more than 40 percent of teachers surveyed told the EdWeek Research Center they feel less effective in their job as a result of stress. Teachers also reported more trouble sleeping and enjoying downtime with friends as a result of stress.
While many school districts are expanding mental health services and counseling for students, Kush said, “teachers’ voices need to be included” in both the mental health services offered and ongoing decisions about when to remain in-person or go to remote instruction during future outbreaks.
See also
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Teachers' Mental Health Has Suffered in the Pandemic. Here's How Districts Can Help
Catherine Gewertz
, May 4, 2021
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9 min read
Sarah D. Sparks
Assistant Editor, Education Week
Sarah D. Sparks covers education research, data, and the science of learning for Education Week.
A version of this article appeared in the December 14, 2022 edition of Education Week as Pandemic Anxiety Was Higher for Teachers Than for Health-Care Workers
Regardless of whether they taught in person or online, teachers have experienced significantly higher rates of anxiety during the pandemic—even more than health-care workers, according to a new study , published this morning in Educational Researcher, a journal of the American Educational Research Association.
As a result, teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout these unusual pandemic times, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression prevalence increased by 25% globally [13]. Unemployment specifically has been proven to be also a predictor of suicidal behavior [14–18].
Some common causes of stress during the coronavirus pandemic are uncertainty, lack of routine and reduced social support, says Mark Flanagan, LMSW, MPH, MA, a social worker at Cancer Wellness at Piedmont.
Teachers are feeling happier at work than in previous years—but they're still nearly twice as likely as other working adults to experience frequent job-related stress.
Findings indicate that teachers reported a greater prevalence of anxiety symptoms than did those in other professions and that remote teachers reported significantly higher levels of distress than did those teaching in person.
Pre-existing teacher shortages have been exacerbated by the pandemic and historically, these teacher shortages have had a disproportionate effect on students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
Both chronic and recent stress exposure are known factors of anxiety and depression symptoms and disorders. Indeed, high levels of anxiety and depression were identified early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports of up to 6-fold4-8 increase from prior-year levels.
Why Is Anxiety So Common in America? Unfortunately, no one seems to have an exact answer as to why anxiety is so common, but many attribute this presumed increase in anxiety disorders to factors such as social media, poor sleep habits, lowered stigma, and underreporting in the past.
Worldwide surveys done in 2020 and 2021 found higher than typical levels of stress, insomnia, anxiety and depression. By 2022, levels had lowered but were still higher than before 2020. Though feelings of distress about COVID-19 may come and go, they are still an issue for many people.
The pandemic was associated with a high prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in adults. Research suggests that these symptoms increased during the pandemic, but the extent of this increase is unclear.
Within the quantitative data, almost half of respondents (41.8%) reported the pandemic's “impact on work” as a source of stress, and almost half (47.3%) reported “financial concerns” as a source of stress due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Increased workload: Teachers often have a significant amount of work to do outside of their regular classroom hours, such as preparing lesson plans, grading papers, and meeting with parents and administrators. This can lead to a feeling of being constantly overwhelmed and stressed.
One of the major reasons why teaching is stressful is the lack of autonomy and input in decision-making. In response to an AFT survey, many educators complained that they had little to no influence on academic standards, professional development, curriculum, school spending, and disciplinary policies.
Prolonged stress can cause teacher burnout, job dissatisfaction, poor performance, and a lack of engagement, which can negatively impact students as well. Teacher stress and burnout can create classroom environments that are less conducive to learning. This could lead to poor student performance and outcomes.
Throughout the pandemic, many districts have faced significant challenges in attracting and retaining teachers, and preexisting teacher shortages in critical areas such as special education; bilingual education; science, technology, engineering, and math; career and technical education; and early childhood education ...
We are among the first to provide estimates of school system employee (SSE) stress, anxiety, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most participants reported clinically meaningful anxiety and depressive symptoms (77.96% and 53.65%, respectively).
Another survey from 2021 found that teachers had experienced higher levels of job-related stress than most other workers. Some teachers say they're struggling with more student misbehavior and classroom disruptions. Others feel that they've been villainized in the political discourse.
Over 4,100 teachers were “needed to reduce [the state's] student-teacher ratio to pre-recession levels” 9% of teachers “left public school teaching in California”
Introduction: My name is Tish Haag, I am a excited, delightful, curious, beautiful, agreeable, enchanting, fancy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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