Too tired to teach? Key determinants of mental health and early retirement among senior teachers: a comparative and teacher-specific perspective. Short summary

Currently policy makers in Belgium are focused on making teachers and other employees work longer. Policy makers are worried that the financial crisis, increasing life expectancy, expected teacher shortages, and the retirement of the baby boom generation, will put pressure on the social security system and in the end would make the social security system unsustainable. For this reason several pension reforms were implemented such as restricting early retirement possibilities or increasing the statutory retirement age. Although these were already profound reforms, more reforms are planned. At the moment a crucial debate concerns the topic of arduous or hazardous work. The core idea of arduous work revolves around the question if certain occupations or some type of work is mentally or physically too difficult or too tough to continue working until normal retirement.