10.P. Workshop: The mental health burden of school principals during the Covid-19 pandemic: global research findings
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHA-HL, EUPHA-PMH, Global Health Literacy Research Network,   Chair persons: Orkan Okan (EUPHA-HL), Kevin Dadaczynski (Germany)
Published: October 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic was the most severe public health crisis in the past 100 years, the effects of which have impacted entire societies. The consequences the pandemic had on national education systems were overlooked during the first year of the outbreak. However, school closures, distant learning, and associated mental health burdens have largely impacted all populations involved in schools, leaving a mark on an entire setting. When public health focus finally turned to schools, primarily asking what might be the long-term outcomes concerning health and educational development of school-children linked to long lasting school closures, the impact on school principals’ mental health was still neglected. This did not come as a surprise as already before the pandemic there was only limited research available on their health status. The few studies available show that principals experience high work-related stress and compared to other professionals their psychological burden is frequently higher. Given the fact that principals represent an instrumental professional group for school health activities, their neglect in health research and policy was inconvenient. Some of the rare studies on the mental health of principals conducted during the pandemic not only confirmed work-related adverse health effects but that they had even worsened. Findings reveal that stress levels and expectations increased, requiring principals to put an additional effort to cope with their already infavourable health situation. Although healthy principals are key to sustainable school development and to the health development of students, the pandemic left them at high risk to experience negative physical and mental health ouctomes. Therefore, school principals are in need of health resources to cope with work-related stress.

Workshop objectives

The aim of this workshop to present novel international and cross-country evidence from a series of linked studies conducted by the Global Health Literacy Research Network in order to illuminate the health burden of principals during the pandemic and how health literacy and school health activities help them mitigating the effects. (i) The first speaker will present results on Polish principals’ self-endangering behaviour. (ii) The second speaker will focus on how health literacy is an asset for German principals’ mental health. (iii) The third speaker will provide a first time comparison between Germany and Switzerland on adverse health stressors of principals. (iv) The fourth speaker will take a continental perspective, introducing the role of principals for school health promotion in Malysia and Switzerland. (v) The fifth speaker will explore the principals’ mental health and well-being in Wales and Northern Ireland. The format of this workshop will be 5x7-minute presentations followed by a 20-minute panel discussion, reflecting the relevance of the results to public health research, practice and policy.

Key messages

• Across countries and regions, school principals suffer more frequently from physical and mental health burdens than other professional groups.

• School principals are important drivers of health and educational development of schoolchildren but ensuring the achievement of these societal goals requires to improve their health.