DDS – Die Deutsche Schule: Issue Long-term Illnesses Among Teachers: Extent and Development

The state of health and sick leave are integral parts of the (media) portrayal of the teaching profession in public. Given the lack of meaningful data and research findings, it is difficult to say anything about the health of teachers, especially in comparison to other occupational groups. In particular, it is unclear whether teachers suffer from (long-term) illness due to their profession. This article examines the extent and development of long-term illness among teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on the basis of official statistics. With the exception of grammar schools, there has been a steady increase in the number of teachers suffering from long-term illness over a period of 18 years for all types of schools. The values are particularly high at secondary schools. However, the proportion of teaching hours lost due to long-term illness averages only 1.16 per cent.

Keywords
official data, teaching profession, stress, strain, health