Number of teachers quitting for mental health reasons hits record high in Japan
A record high 953 teachers at public schools left jobs for mental health reasons in the 2021 academic year, up 171 from the previous survey in 2018, a recent poll by the education ministry showed.
Ministry officials say long working hours is one of the factors behind the rise in the number of teachers quitting jobs at public elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools.
The officials said they need to “tackle the mental health of teachers as an urgent issue.”
Those who quit due to mental illness comprised 8 percent of a total 12,652 teachers who left jobs for reasons other than mandatory retirement in the academic year that ended March 2022, according to the survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The survey showed 571 teachers at elementary school, an increase of 114 from the previous poll, 277 at junior high school, up 35, and 105 at senior high schools, a rise of 22, left jobs due to mental ailments, with each figure marking record highs.
A separate ministry survey released late last year demonstrated similar results, with the number of teachers at public schools who took a leave of absence due to psychological issues marking a record high of 5,897 in the same academic year.
The increase in teachers’ workload and subsequent long working hours are also leading to a decrease in the number of people seeking to become teachers, making it increasingly difficult to cover for those who have taken leave due to illnesses or have retired.
To address the shortage of teachers, the ministry is considering improving their working conditions and significantly increasing assistant staff, the officials said.
Other than for mental health reasons, 4,000 teachers have left schools due to change in jobs, including dispatch to education boards, and 2,913 due to family reasons, the poll showed.
The same survey also investigated the age structure and average age of teachers working at public schools as of Oct. 1, 2022, and showed that teachers are becoming younger as compared with the previous survey in 2019.
The ratio of teachers aged under 30 made up 20.2 percent of total staff at elementary schools and 17.3 percent at junior high schools, edging up 1.0 percentage point and 1.1 points from the previous survey, respectively.
The percentage of teachers aged 50 and above stood at 31.3 percent at elementary schools and 34.0 percent at junior high schools, down 2.6 points and 2.7 points, respectively.
Average age among teachers at elementary schools fell 0.5 point to 42.1 years old and that at junior high schools declined 0.6 point to 43.0 years old.
