Profile of publications on teacher’s working conditions and health: a contribution to (re)think the literature

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a literature review carried out at the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) databases, covering a period of 20 years (1997-2017), about teachers’ working conditions and health. Our search returned a set of 175 eligible studies that were grouped, according to their characteristics and size samples, into the following categories: (1) Health disorders; (2) Working conditions and health; (3) Quality of life; (4) Work, career and fundamentals of teaching. Results show a growing interest on the topic in recent years, and especially regarding teachers’ quality of life as of 2006. Despite the vast number of studies on teachers’ work and health, the educational field has spared little attention to its professionals’ health, showing the need for a multidisciplinary approach on the topic.