World Mental Health Day 2026: From awareness to prevention in education
Every year on 10 October, World Mental Health Day offers an opportunity to reflect on the importance of mental health at work. Teaching remains one of the most meaningful and socially valuable professions. Across Europe, teachers, academics and other education personnel play a vital role in supporting learners, fostering inclusion and shaping future generations. Many educators enter the profession out of a strong sense of vocation and commitment to their students. Yet the current working conditions and the organisation of work expose them to significant psychosocial, affecting their mental health at work, health and ability to remain in the profession.
A substantial body of research shows that psychosocial risks are closely linked to the way work is organised and supported. The latest EU-OSHA report identifies administrative workload as the most frequently cited source of stress among teachers, with many education professionals also reporting growing pressures related to accountability requirements, lesson preparation and the increasing range of responsibilities expected beyond their core educational role. The findings also point to challenges linked to professional recognition, meaningful participation in decision-making and supportive working environments that emerge as important factors for educators' wellbeing. Across Europe, many education workers report limited opportunities to influence decisions affecting their work and express concerns about the declining societal recognition of the profession.
The consequences extend beyond the occupational dimension. Research shows that psychosocial risks contribute to burnout, absenteeism and decisions to leave the profession, further aggravating teacher and academic staff shortages across Europe and affecting the quality of education provided to learners.
Research highlights a number of factors that help protect education workers' mental health at work, including professional autonomy, supportive leadership, positive working relationships, meaningful professional development opportunities and adequate staffing levels. The evidence also shows that prevention is most effective when psychosocial risks are recognised as organisational and workplace issues rather than individual problems.
This is precisely the approach promoted by ETUCE through its work on preventing psychosocial risks in education.
Prevention of psychosocial risks at work also requires concrete tools. In 2025, ETUCE and EFEE, the European social partners in education, adopted the Joint European Guidelines on Preventing Psychosocial Risks in Education, providing practical recommendations for education employers, trade unions and public authorities to identify, prevent and address psychosocial risks through social dialogue and workplace action. The Guidelines support education institutions in developing preventive approaches that place education workers' wellbeing at the centre of school and institutional policies. Available in 14 languages, the Guidelines are accessible to social partners and education institutions across diverse national and local contexts.
ETUCE and EFEE have also worked with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) to develop free Online Interactive Risk Assessment (OiRA) tools tailored to early childhood education, secondary education, and higher education and research. These practical, sector-specific tools guide institutions step by step through identifying and evaluating occupational safety and health risks, including psychosocial risks, and preparing a documented action plan with preventive measures. By involving education workers and their representatives in the assessment process, institutions can turn risk prevention into a participatory and continuous part of workplace management, rather than treating it as a one-off exercise.
The case for stronger European action is also gaining political momentum. On 6 October 2026, the European Parliament adopted the legislative-initiative report Work-related psychosocial risks, stress and mental health at work, led by rapporteur Estelle Ceulemans MEP. The resolution asks the European Commission to carry out an impact assessment and, depending on its findings, submit a legislative proposal addressing gaps in existing EU law. Its recommendations envisage minimum requirements and organisational, structural and participatory obligations for employers to prevent, eliminate or reduce psychosocial risks. They include regular and participatory risk assessments, workplace action plans, stronger labour inspection, support for a sustainable return to work, reinforced social dialogue and worker participation, and measures against violence and harassment. Although the European Parliament plenary weakened the original report, which explicitly called for binding measures, the adopted resolution still sends an important political signal that psychosocial risks are preventable organisational hazards requiring stronger and enforceable protection.
On World Mental Health Day, ETUCE calls on European institutions, governments and education employers to move beyond awareness and invest in prevention. At a time when Europe faces growing teacher shortages, protecting the mental health and wellbeing of education workers is not only an essential occupational health issue. It is a prerequisite for maintaining high-quality, inclusive and sustainable public education systems.
