Mental Health Challenges Among Teachers: The Role of the Workplace

Teacher mental health is a growing societal and economic concern with important implications for educational quality and student outcomes.

This study examines the role of schools as workplaces in generating heterogeneity in teachers’ mental health. Using comprehensive population-wide Danish register data linking teachers to schools, students, and health care utilization, we document large and persistent differences in mental health outcomes across schools.

These differences reflect causal workplace effects rather than selection, as a quasi-experimental mover design shows: teachers’ mental health deteriorates after moving to schools with worse mental health environments, with effects unfolding over the subsequent years. The variation across schools correlates only to a small degree with observable school and student characteristics. Auxiliary analyses point to unobserved dimensions of workplace quality, such as leadership and organizational climate, as potential drivers of heterogeneity in teacher mental health.

joint with Antonia Entorf and Miriam Gensowski

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