Teachers have spent at least 1.5million days off work due to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid lingering concerns about the mounting pressures they face in class.
With longstanding concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues at some council-controlled schools in England and the UK Wales increased by 7% compared to the previous year. It is also up nearly a fifth from three years ago.
The data came in response to freedom of information requests provided by 143 of the 152 local education authorities in England and Wales. In total, more than seven million teaching days have been lost due to stress and mental health issues in the past five years. They showed a steady increase, underscoring the pressures the pandemic has placed on teaching staff.
Some areas seemed more affected. Kent saw 91,679 teaching days lost in 2021-22, more than anywhere else in the country. Hampshire saw the number of mental health leave days rise to 28,945 in 2021-22, up a third from the previous year.
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman who released the figures, said she feared there was a growing epidemic of mental health among teachers.
“Far too many teachers face burnout from unsustainable workloads and relentless pressure,” she said. “Parents will be rightly worried about the terrible repercussions this could have on the education and well-being of our children.
“The new Education Secretary must set out a clear plan to reverse the years of damage to the mental health and wellbeing of teachers, and to help recruit and retain the staff we need. The Covid inquiry must also examine the impact of the government’s mishandling of the pandemic on the mental health of teachers and other frontline workers.
This is accompanied by teaching chiefs warning that work pressures, combined with an offer of a pay rise below inflation, will intensify a teacher retention crisis. Most have been offered a 5% pay rise next year – higher than the initial offer of 3%, but well below the inflation rate of 9.1%. Starting salaries will increase by 8.9%. The unions said they would consult with their members on possible industrial action in the fall following the offer. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the 5% increase offered to most teachers would be “a total reduction in real terms of almost 12% since 2010”. Schools will need to fund increases from existing budgets.
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said stress and poor mental health had become “a really big issue”. She said: ‘The biggest issue is workload and this is often cited, along with pay, as one of the main reasons why we have a very high turnover rate in education, at 40 % of teachers leaving within 10 years of qualification.
“During the pandemic, schools and staff have had to take on a lot of extra work. All of this will have left many staff members exhausted and we are also hearing that some have come out of the pandemic with a view to reassessing their work/life balance and quitting teaching. This is very worrying as the situation of teacher shortage is already dire enough and looks likely to get even worse.
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The government is failing to address the issues of unacceptable workloads, oversized classrooms, punitive accountability measures, stress and pay needed to ensure that teaching is a profession that both attracts graduates and retains experienced teachers.
A Whitehall official said the upcoming Covid inquiry included a promise to examine the impact on the country’s mental health. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are extremely grateful for the continued efforts of teachers and school leaders to support students, especially during the pandemic. We are taking steps to help teachers stay in the profession and thrive. This includes raising salaries and launching the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which pledges to reduce teachers’ unnecessary workload, promote flexible working and improve access to wellness resources.
