Recent study shows 75% of teachers have “suffered either physically or mentally because of their jobs”

A study conducted by the Education Support Partnership for BBC London’s Inside Out programme has suggested that 75% of teachers have suffered wellbeing issues related to their roles within schools.

Image Credit: BBC

The research, which recorded 1,250 responses, identifies a higher number of teachers found to be at ‘breaking point’ than the 62% identified in previous studies. With planning, marking and assessments taking hold of teachers beyond their contracted working hours, a large quantity are leaving the profession and Headteachers are struggling to recruit members of staff for their schools.

The Department for Education responded by claiming “teachers play a hugely important role in our society and there are now more teachers in our schools than ever before. We are actively addressing the issues that teachers cite as reasons for leaving the profession, for example by supporting schools to reduce unnecessary workload.”

Further concerns sit with the children and the future of their education. Naturally, if a teacher is under pressure they are unlikely to be able to deliver the best quality lessons, thus affecting the content consumed by the children in that class.

Emily Turner, a former primary school teacher, told the BBC “it just started to become this cycle of me feeling like I wasn’t teaching well enough because I was depressed and that was making me more depressed. It just continued to spiral.”                                                                                                                                           Something needs to change within the education sector but not many school staff can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Others are trying to consider new ways of putting their wellbeing first with some staff after school clubs becoming prominent in a handful of cases.