WORKING IN EDUCATION IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND STRESS LEVELS – ATL // TEACHER SUPPORT NETWORK SURVEY

19 March 2008

Seventy per cent of teachers and lecturers say their health has suffered because of their job, and over 50 per cent are stressed by working in education, according to an Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and Teacher Support Network survey.

The health impact is even higher among school leaders and heads of department with 75 per cent and 73 per cent respectively complaining. And female teachers (72 per cent) admit to suffering more than male (66 per cent).

The highest stress levels are reported by those working in further education colleges (59 per cent) followed by those working in sixth form colleges (54 per cent). And more heads of department say they are stressed (58 per cent) than school or college leaders (56 per cent) and teachers (52 per cent).

These findings are unsurprising since staff at all levels say demands on them and their time have increased over the past five years. Eighty four cent say this is because of the number of new education initiatives they have to deal with, 83 per cent say their workload is higher, and 79 per cent say they are doing more admin. For school and college leaders the biggest change has been in the amount of extra responsibility (96 per cent), for heads of department a higher workload (91 per cent) and more admin (91 per cent), and for teachers new education initiatives (84 per cent).

An ICT teacher from a sixth form college in Surrey, said: “It is not possible to do my job efficiently within the contracted hours. This means it has to be done at home as well, impacting on family and social life.”

A secondary school leader from Northern Ireland said: “I don't have enough time to complete tasks satisfactorily. I don't have enough time for family or friends. I always have to cut short visits or phone calls to my family because of pressure of work.”

A primary school manager said: “I love working with, and seeing how I can contribute to my children's progress, but the paper work is all consuming and I spend more time filling in data, planning, checking, testing, assessing, etc that I am hard pushed to dedicate enough time to my class.”

FE lecturer Jane Kent said: “Teaching life seems to be taking great advantage of people’s goodwill. I have little chance for a social life or hobbies. My workload means that I work six days in seven.”

In a worrying signal to school and colleges over 70 per cent of those with health problems have considered leaving the profession, rising to 84 per cent among secondary school staff.

Among those whose health has been affected, 51 per cent have gone to their local GP to seek help and 36 per cent have taken time off work.

The most widely reported health problems are stress (85 per cent), disturbed sleep patterns (83 per cent), and exhaustion (82 per cent).

A primary teacher said: “I am continually stressed and have tried all sorts of anti stress health tablets. I have also been advised to seek counselling.”

A member of the leadership team in a primary school said: “I am on painkillers and antidepressants and I am only part time.”

A secondary teacher in Nottinghamshire said: “I enjoy working hard and I thrive on being busy. There are actually very few things in my job that I don't think that I should be doing, but there just seems to be so much of it. It seems too easy to end up in a situation where it feels like there is no chance of getting everything done in time and I end up getting worried.”

Morale is reported to be good in the majority of schools and sixth form colleges with 55 per cent saying it is OK or positive, however, 51 per cent of those working in further education colleges say staff are despondent.

A primary school manager said: “Everyone seems very fed up and miserable and little things become a big issue. This annoys me, and being usually quite a cheerful person it can bring me down and make me annoyed. So sometimes sit in my room to avoid listening to everyone else moaning!”

ATL general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, said: “The demands and pressures on those working in school is escalating. They are having to cope with endless Government initiatives making changes to what is taught and the way it is taught, and the huge pressure from the Government, Ofsted, parents and the schools and colleges themselves to get pupils through tests. It is unsurprising that so many teachers and lecturers are contemplating getting out of teaching, and that it is so hard to find people prepared to take on headship or leadership roles.”

Patrick Nash from the Teacher Support Network said: “During our experiences as a charity supporting teachers through counselling and coaching, we have seen just how much stress affects both individual teachers and learning experiences of pupils. Schools and the government must work together to ensure the introduction of wellbeing programmes and better policies to look after the health of their staff.”

For further information please contact the ATL press office on 0207 782 1589 or visit website www.atl.org.uk and the Teacher Support Network press office on 07825 511 927 or visit www.teachersupport.info

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