Career structure promotes teacher stress

AS a retired secondary teacher, and I certainly did not work in one of the schools that served the “leafy suburbs”, I was unaware of teacher stress and mental illness being major issues (“Stress hits the mental health of one in two teachers”,

The Herald, December 10). When a colleague was showing stress symptoms, and it did happen from time to time as I imagine it does in most professions, I recall it being discussed sympathetically by fellow teachers as a significant but relatively rare problem.

So what may have changed over the last 20 years or so?

May I suggest two possibilities? 1 – Professional advancement (promotion opportunities): In my day these opportunities started early on in your career. It moved from assistant teacher (that was the official term for basic grade teacher) to assistant principal teacher to principal teacher (head of department) to assistant head teacher (there could be up to four such posts in secondary schools) to deputy head teacher (only one such post per school) to head teacher.

The salary differences between these positions were relatively modest ranging from the assistant principal teacher receiving basic grade salary plus approximately 15 per cent, up to the head teacher receiving around twice/three times the basic salary. Up to half the staff could be somewhere on this promotion ladder so that there were strong feelings that you were “going somewhere” within the staff body.

Now, this structure been much curtailed: basic grade teacher to faculty head (being in overall responsibility for clusters of departments which optimistically might be thought of as families of departments with some common themes; for example art, music and drama are often linked), then deputy head teacher to head teacher.

When I reached the level of Principal teacher (a position that might be reached after 5-10 years teaching say) I felt proud, and felt my opinion was valued at whole school level. Now the first promotion step is faculty head.

This is obviously more difficult to achieve than the previous principal teacher (department head), and a position where, frankly, you might have limited expertise (and hence respect) in the educational departments that you are expected to guide and supervise. All of this, I see, as a potent recipe for stress.

2) Funding. Equipment budgets have been cut to the bone, and then some. If you are short of art materials, timber, text books and so on but are still expected to produce high quality education, staff morale is very likely to be at a low level.

A basic grade teacher earns around £30,000 a year. If schools were allocated the equivalent of one teacher salary to enhance their present equipment budgets, the effect would certainly be noticed.

I am suggesting a rethink of staff promotion, not necessarily a step back to the 1980s but a considered alternative to the present; plus a modest increase in cash allocation for equipment and resources

Teaching should be seen as a great job, and teachers should be enabled to do a great job.

Alex Leggatt,

73 North Gyle Loan,

Edinburgh.