Teachers Across Europe And Africa Face Mental Health Crisis
Across Europe and Africa, a mounting mental health crisis is gripping the teaching profession, with educators in Kenya, Spain, and the United Kingdom raising urgent alarms about the toll of mounting stress, job insecurity, and growing disrespect. Teachers, once pillars of stability in their communities, are now increasingly vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and burnout—symptoms of what many now describe as a system in crisis.
In Kenya, the situation has reached a breaking point, especially among Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers employed under the Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) contractual system. Evalyne Chepkirui Sanguya, a teacher at Siwot Secondary School in Bomet County, spoke out on November 19, 2025, about the dire mental health consequences faced by her colleagues. According to Education News KE, Sanguya described the current contract terms—where graduate teachers earn about Ksh 17,000—as “demoralising and unsustainable.” The recurring contract renewals, low pay, and absence of clear career progression have left many teachers feeling anxious, stressed, and burned out.
Sanguya, who is also vying to become the Bomet KUPPET Branch Gender Secretary, emphasized that job insecurity is not just a personal hardship. It has systemic consequences: “The uncertainty is affecting teachers’ emotional well-being, their productivity in class, and even their family stability,” she warned, as reported by Education News KE. The fallout is visible in a marked increase in depression, stress-related illnesses, and even suicides among teachers. With high turnover rates and a brain drain threatening the sector, the continuity of learning is disrupted, directly impacting student performance and educational outcomes.
“It is time to restore dignity and stability within the teaching profession,” Sanguya urged, calling for urgent reforms to ensure fair pay, job security, and opportunities for career growth. Without decisive action, she cautioned, the quality of education and the well-being of teachers will continue to deteriorate.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the ANPE Defensor del Profesor’s 2024–25 report paints a similarly stark picture. As Molly Grace reported for Euro Weekly News on November 18, 2025, Spanish teachers are increasingly beset by abuse and pressure from both students and families. The most frequent issues include lack of respect (30.3%), false accusations (28.5%), harassment (16%), and formal complaints to the school or educational inspection (13.6%).
What’s particularly troubling is that teachers with more experience—those typically relied upon for stability and mentorship—report the highest number of problems. In Infant and Primary education, conflicts with families now outstrip those with students. Teachers are frequently pressured by parents to change grades, and their professional authority is routinely questioned. “The combination of disrespect from families and repeated challenges from students creates a persistent climate of tension in classrooms,” Euro Weekly News observed.
The psychological toll is immense. Three-quarters (75%) of Infant and Primary education teachers report anxiety, while 15.1% of experienced teachers report depression. The rate of sick leave due to stress-related conditions has climbed to 22.4%. Problems with students, including disrespect (17.2%), difficulties giving class (17.3%), and false accusations (15.6%), remain significant, with aggressive behavior among students rising slightly from 6.5% to 6.6% in the past year.
The report’s warning is unequivocal: without intervention, burnout, absenteeism, and a decline in educational quality are all but inevitable. The crisis is not isolated to a handful of schools or regions; it is systemic, driven by bureaucratic overload, insufficient support, and the erosion of teachers’ professional standing.
Turning to the United Kingdom, the latest Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025, published by the charity Education Support on November 18, 2025, revealed that over a third (36%) of education staff are at risk of probable clinical depression. More than three quarters of education staff feel stressed, and a similar proportion experience symptoms of poor mental health due to work. The average wellbeing score for education staff was 43.42, markedly lower than the national average for England, which stood at 51.40.
School and college leaders are under particular strain. According to the report, 86% of senior leaders feel stressed, with many displaying clear signs of burnout and exhaustion. A staggering 62% report working at very high speed, while 71% work to tight deadlines for most of their time. The stress is relentless and, as Education Support’s chief executive Sinéad Mc Brearty put it, “Our ninth index reveals that the people who educate our children are operating under intolerable pressure. Our findings should serve as a wake-up call to Government. We urgently need a national retention strategy that puts staff wellbeing at its core.”
The National Education Union’s general secretary, Daniel Kebede, echoed these concerns, stating, “This is a system in crisis…teacher wellbeing must be a workforce priority. Union representatives should be involved in monitoring workload and wellbeing, and schools need adequate funding and staffing. It’s time to redefine teacher support, ensure proper funding, and protect teachers from stress and burnout.”
The UK’s Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025 is the ninth such large-scale survey, and its findings are consistent with previous years: teacher wellbeing continues to lag behind the general population, and the profession is at risk of losing more staff unless urgent action is taken. The call for a national retention strategy is not just about protecting teachers—it’s about safeguarding the quality of education for future generations.
Across all three countries, the narrative is alarmingly similar. Teachers are facing unprecedented pressure from multiple fronts: insecure employment and low pay in Kenya, disrespect and parental interference in Spain, and overwhelming workloads in the UK. The consequences are not confined to individual teachers. As educators struggle, students and entire school systems feel the effects—through disrupted learning, declining performance, and a growing sense of instability in the classroom.
What’s clear is that the mental health of teachers is not a peripheral issue—it’s central to the health of education systems worldwide. Without urgent, coordinated reforms that prioritize teacher wellbeing, fair compensation, and respect for professional authority, the crisis will only deepen. The stakes could not be higher: the future of education, and the wellbeing of millions of children, hangs in the balance.
As teachers in Kenya, Spain, and the UK continue to sound the alarm, the question for policymakers is not whether to act, but how quickly and decisively they can respond to restore dignity, stability, and hope to the teaching profession.
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