Chinese teachers’ mental health crisis

(By Caixin journalists Zheng Yuhan, Fan Qiaojia and Guo Xin)

After four years teaching at a public high school, Chen Jun had gained over 20 kilograms and been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

Shortly after she joined the school, located in one of the counties of Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan province, her employer announced it would adopt the “Hengshui model”. That refers to the intensely strict approach to education made famous by Hengshui High School in Hebei province, which attracts students from all around the country hoping to ace the national college entrance exam.

Each day, Chen had to arrive before 7 am to supervise students’ morning reading, regardless of whether she had been assigned duties that stretched late into the night before. If she was even a few minutes later than expected, she would receive a harsh reprimand from her superiors.

“I had seven or eight alarms on my phone, but I still never felt at ease,” Chen said. This made sleeping properly, in the few hours she’d often have, basically impossible. “Whenever it crossed my mind, I’d have to open my eyes and check my phone again.” At the peak of her anxiety, she would jolt awake in a panic every hour, wracked by chest pains and gripped by the fear of being late. During the day, she lived under a black cloud of depression, often bursting into tears suddenly and having panic attacks.

After seeking medical treatment, Chen was prescribed medication, but it left her so lethargic she could not maintain her normal home life, let alone meet the strenuous demands of her job. She eventually stopped taking it. With her monthly salary of under 4,000 RMB, she cannot afford regular psychological counselling.

A recent study, which surveyed more than 550,000 teachers from preschools, primary, secondary and higher education institutions, found that between 2000 and 2022, 16.1% of Chinese teachers experienced mental health issues. If preschool teachers, who had a far lower rate, are excluded, the figure was 17.8%.

“While mental health has gained widespread attention globally in recent years, the mental well-being of teachers has not received the focus it deserves,” said the lead researcher of the study Yu Guoliang, a professor at Renmin University of China and director of its Institute of Psychology.

These findings imply teachers’ mental health is worse compared with other common professions. Another study on mental health, published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Psychology found that nearly 13% of office workers had experienced depression, 9.5% of civil servants and 7% of factory workers.

Yu, who has studied teacher mental health in China for more than 20 years, stressed that poor mental health is not just a personal problem for teachers, but has a profound effect on the country’s whole education system.

In 2021, China rolled out the “double reduction” policy, which aimed to improve students’ well-being by reducing their homework and hours spent on after-school tutoring.

That year, the New Education Research Institute surveyed thousands of primary and secondary school teachers nationwide on the challenges they faced. The institute is a private education organisation based in Jiangsu province.

The survey found that in the wake of the changes, teachers’ working hours had lengthened, their stress had increased and their professional satisfaction had fallen.

For instance, teachers now often have to spend their lunch breaks as well as several hours after class monitoring students, as the assignments that would have previously be given to them as homework must now be completed at school, according to Fang Jie, who has been a primary school teacher in Shanghai for 17 years.

Fang said that the “double reduction” policy alone hasn’t been able to slash students’ workloads, due to concurrent changes to the country’s exam and textbook standards. “The new textbooks are getting more difficult, and that means more teaching work and assignments. With the rising difficulty of both textbooks and exam questions, how can the workload possibly be reduced?” she asked.

Even during winter and summer breaks, teachers have little time for rest. Zhang Li, a teacher at a private middle school in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, shared her summer assignments with Caixin. The school requires teachers to complete a series of tasks aimed at “physical and mental adjustment” as well as “reflection and improvement”. These include attending lectures, watching films, reading, practicing calligraphy, writing reviews and articles, and lesson planning.

Additionally, teachers often feel drained by parents’ demands.

Fang once missed a call from a parent late in the evening. Given the late hour, she decided not to return the call that night. The following day, she asked the student about the issue, but the student said they did not know anything about it. Believing it was not serious, Fang moved on.

Half a semester later, Fang told the parent to contact her if she had any issues. The parent demanded Fang explain why she hadn’t answered the phone call that night. “I was caught off guard,” Fang said. “The parent had held onto that for months.”

Fang also said that when such issues with parents emerge, teachers often feel that schools do not do enough to support them.

“Teachers care about whether school leaders fulfill their duty to protect them,” she said. “If principals care about teachers, they’ll help manage small issues and resolve disputes, giving teachers a sense of security and support,” Fang added. However, she said principals tend to shy away when this kind of challenge emerges.

In 2021, Fang was diagnosed with a malignant thyroid tumor. After surgery, she has to regularly visit a hospital for follow-up treatments. When her contract expired in June 2023, the elementary school opted to terminate her employment.

Such conditions are not uncommon in the profession. Several teachers told Caixin that stress-related illnesses are prevalent occupational hazards.

In November 2023, a young teacher in Zhengzhou, Henan province, committed suicide just three months into her job. According to media reports, the teacher’s sister said her sibling had repeatedly said the school assigned a heavy load of non-teaching tasks, such as drafting documents and handling inspections from the education authorities.

“When will teachers be allowed to focus solely on educating and nurturing students? How can unhappy teachers raise positive, optimistic children?” the teacher wrote in her suicide note.

During March’s “Two Sessions” of China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies, several attendees called for measures to reduce the workload of teachers.

Chen Guiyun, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice chairman of the Chongqing CPPCC, conducted a survey of rural primary and secondary schools across Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Gansu, Guizhou and Chongqing.

The survey found that teachers are burdened with a range of responsibilities. In addition to internal inspections, evaluations and attendance checks, they are tasked with more than ten different types of work, such as collecting data for anti-fraud and anti-corruption initiatives.

Chen said teachers raised concerns about increasingly detailed inspection standards, higher demands, and complex evaluation criteria. Some said the volume of paperwork they must fill in has become overwhelming, with mountains of documents and forms required for every task.

Teachers interviewed by Caixin also expressed that they believe they are not receiving fair salaries for their heavy workload, with some reporting instances of delayed payments.

In recent years, a series of policies aimed at easing teachers’ workloads and improving their mental health have been rolled out. This year alone, several provinces have attempted to limit the number of non-teaching tasks that teachers can be assigned. Over the summer, cities across Henan province issued notices or launched special campaigns to ensure teachers were not given excessive duties over the break. The authorities in Foshan, Guangdong province, announced that only schools’ senior staff should be asked to work over the summer holiday.

Yu argues that policies only address symptoms instead of root causes and cannot fundamentally enhance teachers’ mental well-being. The complexities of mental health issues require proactive policies, appropriate workload reductions, and realistic expectations, he points out.

“The top priority is to create a mental health support system for teachers that involves the government, schools, and families. Building a societal network focused on teacher mental health is essential to boosting their sense of professional honour, fulfillment and achievement.” Yu said.

Ahead of this year’s Teacher’s Day, China’s Ministry of Education issued a notice outlining plans to optimise policies supporting teachers.

The notice emphasises that the ministry will ensure the average salary for teachers in compulsory education remains at least equal to the average salary of local civil servants. Furthermore, it plans to strengthen housing and benefits for rural teachers.

To address mental and physical health concerns, the ministry will enforce legal provisions for regular rest periods and safeguard teachers’ rights under the law.

The names of the teachers in the story are all pseudonyms.

This article was first published by Caixin Global as “In Depth: Chinese Teachers’ Mental Health Crisis”. Caixin Global is one of the most respected sources for macroeconomic, financial and business news and information about China.