Teacher development and health issues

Abstract

This study conducted a questionnaire survey to identify teacher development and health issues and compared it with the results of other researchers and international research trends. A random sample of 206 teachers (24 males, 182 females) from secondary schools in the western, eastern, central regions and the capital city participated in the survey, with 71.8% (148) primary school teachers, 14.6% (30) middle school teachers, and 13.6% (28) high school teachers. VOSviewer was used to identify international research trends from 9,160 WoS articles on teacher development and health. The survey results showed that the majority of teachers are at high risk of health problems due to high workload and poor leisure time. In particular, problems such as vision impairment, back and heart pain, fatigue, and psychological stress are prevalent. 85.4% of respondents said that teachers' work is difficult, 64.9% said that teaching has a negative impact on health, 70.6% said that teaching causes a lot of stress, and 57.8% said that health is important for teacher development. This was similar to the results of some studies conducted in Mongolia 20 years ago. Therefore, teacher health remains a pressing issue for teachers. As can be seen from the international research cluster, teacher development was previously studied in relation to developed policies, but is now being studied more in relation to teacher psychology and teaching effectiveness. Teacher development should not be limited to issues of increasing professional skills, but should be supported by comprehensive policies that cover teachers' health, physical, psychological, and social well-being.