Teachers face work-related pressures

Just over two-thirds of teachers (67%) say their job has adversely affected their mental health in the last 12 months.

The findings, from the annual Big question survey conducted by the NASUWT teachers’ union, were issued at the union’s annual conference last month where delegates debated a motion criticising the lack of support for teachers with mental health issues.

According to the survey, a quarter had increased their use of alcohol, tobacco and caffeine to help them cope with working life while over 11% reported that the strain of the job had led to relationship breakdown. The union added: “Worryingly, nearly 2% said they had self-harmed as a result of work-related pressures.”

Nearly half reported seeing a doctor in the last 12 months because of work-related physical or mental health issues, with 37% having to take medication, 13% undergoing counselling and just under 5% being admitted to hospital.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the scale of the problem was “unprecedented”. And she said that the health and wellbeing of the workforce has never been a priority for the coalition government.

She added: “Its denigration of teachers, relentless attacks on their pay and conditions of service, the punitive accountability regime and the coalition’s refusal to address the increasing culture of command and control management, combined with its contempt for health, safety and welfare provisions, has taken a dreadful toll on teachers.”

www.sec-ed.co.uk/news/teachers-being-hit-by-mental-health-issues