Assessment of teachers’ wellbeing and work health in subsidised schools

Abstract

There are not many studies on the assessment of teachers’ wellbeing and work health and this assessment needs to include the main conditions derived from the specific risks of the teaching profession, as well as the key indicators of wellbeing in the profession. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the state of health of teachers of state subsidized schools in Catalonia. A sample of 6208 active teachers replied the Teaching Health Questionnaire, a specific questionnaire that includes six factors: Exhaustion, Voice Complaints, Muscle-skeleton Complaints, Cognitive Complaints, Satisfaction and Self-efficacy. The results indicate that 20% of the teachers have a low state of health, being the Muscleskeleton and Cognitive Complaints those with the highest prevalence, followed by Voice Complaints and Exhaustion. 80% of the teachers report feeling satisfied and competent in their teaching. There are differences in gender, educational level, age and years of teaching, being female teachers, teachers working in Secondary Education and aged between 45 and 55 the groups who have a lower level of health. These results show the need to improve organizational, professional and personal preventive measures.