‘Shocking’ number of teacher days lost to stress
More than 47,000 teaching days were lost to stress in Wales last year, new figures show. The National Union of Teachers Cymru has labelled the figure “shockingly high” and has called on the Welsh Government, schools and councils to address the issue, which it said is affecting teachers’ lives and children’s education.
New figures obtained by the NUT Cymru through a Freedom of Information request show that after a rise in the number of days teachers took off for stress between 2014 and 2015, figures fell by 4,718 last year.
But the fall was only recorded in nine of Wales’ 22 councils, with the other 13 all showing a rise.
Across Wales 47,077 teaching days were lost to stress in 2016 compared with 51,795 in 2015.
In the four years since 2012 a massive 249,391 teaching days have been lost as a result of stress-related illnesses equating to hundreds of full-time teachers being lost.
The largest rise in teaching days lost to stress in 2016 was in Monmouthshire, which recorded 1,829 days lost, compared with 800 in 2015.
The county with the biggest total number of teaching days lost to stress in 2016 was Gwynedd with 1,948 – a rise of 10 days.
Owen Hathway, NUT Cymru Policy Officer, said: “Stress-related illnesses were down slightly across Wales, which is something of a positive, but the overall figures are still shockingly high. In any given area of Wales we are seeing thousands of days lost to this issue.
“That impacts on individual teachers who are suffering, pupils who see disruption to their education and school finances, as they have to spend money to purchase in supply.
“Tackling the causes of this concern, most notably workload pressures, really does have to be a priority.
“We know just how much of an issue workload is from the national workforce survey.
“We know the Cabinet Secretary for Education is keen to address the concerns and hopefully we can see some real progress over coming months as there is no way we can continue to put these strains on the sector and expect progress to be made.”
Cllr Sarah Merry, cabinet member for education, employment and skills in Cardiff, where teaching days lost to stress fell by 3,941 between 2015 and 2016, said she was pleased to see results from her council’s action.
“We take the welfare of our staff seriously and I am pleased to see our work to reduce the number of people off with stress having a positive effect.”
The council has introduced an employee support package, giving school staff access to a counselling service and telephone and online support.
“The council’s Attendance and Wellbeing Policy requires cases of workrelated stress to be proactively managed,” she said.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: ““Reducing workload and enabling teachers to spend more time supporting pupils is a key priority.
“To further support teachers, we’re investing in smaller class sizes and teacher training.
“There are statutory provisions in force to ensure teachers have a suitable work/life balance and maintain their health and safety. These include supporting teachers who are absent through extended illness to get back to work.”