Education: Stress takes heavy toll on teachers across Fife.

Union claims excessive workload and high levels of dissatisfaction is cause of decades-worth of classroom time being lost to school pupils in Tayside and Fife

Decades-worth of teaching time are being lost to Tayside and Fife school pupils as stress takes its toll on the region’s teachers.

New figures have revealed the staff time lost with stress-related sickness absence continuing to rise. Dundee teachers racked up 3,615 days in stress-related sickness absence from January 2017-2018, up from 3,388 in 2017.

Angus teachers called in sick for 3,602 days in 2017-18, up from 2,829 two years previously, while the Fife figure rose from 5,177 to 5,355.

Perth and Kinross Council declined to provide stress-related absence data.

The information, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, follows a January survey showing that more than 75% of Scottish teachers frequently feel stress because of their workload.

Tayside and Fife local authorities said the wellbeing of school staff is a priority and have detailed a raft of measures and strategies either already in place or being developed to support them.

However, the impact on school spending and staffing on local authority budgets due to be announced within days has given rise to further fears the situation will remain a major concern for councils, schools, staff and parents – and may even worsen.

In the EIS teaching union’s survey last month, 60% of teachers said during the course of a typical week their workload regularly left them feeling stressed.

More than 15% of those surveyed said they were stressed “all the time”.

A common theme for a number of the contributors was the challenge of teaching children with additional support needs (ASN) in mainstream classes.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said of the union survey: “Excessive workload and high levels of stress are clearly also contributing to the high levels of dissatisfaction felt by many teachers. It is this toxic combination of soaring workload and declining pay that has created the current recruitment and retention crisis facing Scottish education.

“Both of these issues must be addressed to ensure that Scotland’s education system can continue to meet the needs of learners in the future.”

Angus MP Kirstene Hair said the level of stress and mental health concern is higher “across the board”, and “mainstreaming” of pupils was contributing to “challenging environments” for learning and teaching.

Scottish Conservative Ms Hair said: “Many of the constituents I have spoken to are concerned by the amount of extra pressure placed on teachers by the presumption of mainstreaming.

“While it’s correct most children should be taught together, schools do not have the resources to teach a minority of pupils in the classroom.

“They need more classroom assistants to do that, and more specialised teachers. I strongly believe teachers want their pupils to have the best education possible.

“At a time when the Scottish Government is unable to agree a fairer pay deal for the profession, I can see why so many are feeling the strain.”

“It is this toxic combination of soaring workload and declining pay that has created the current... crisis. LARRY FLANAGAN EIS

New figures on the number of teaching hours lost to stress and poor mental health are a sobering warning to the authorities. Across Dundee, Angus and Fife, the figures are increasing. Perth and Kinross did not respond to a request for information but if it is showing a reduction, it would be bucking a national trend.

While it is obvious not every instance of absence will be related to the job itself, there are enough cases to make it a major concern.

Stretched budgets and increased workloads mean absence rates are unlikely to move in the right direction when the next study is carried out.

While teachers may be in line for a new pay deal, far above the rate of most public sector workers, this is also unlikely to affect work-related absence.

The EIS is never shy of creating a headline but it remains Scotland’s largest teaching union and must be heeded when it warns of a “toxic combination” of factors keeping teachers out of the classroom and causing three quarters of the workforce to feel stressed.

Teacher training numbers are increasing and vacancy rates are dropping – two issues being tackled with a degree of success.

Improving the mental health of staff must remain high on John Swinney’s “to do” list. Ultimately, it is the pupils who will suffer the most from these absences.