Mental health absence by heads doubles

Argyll and Bute Council has pledged support for staff after the number of days head teachers were off due to mental illhealth has doubled.

Figures show that 356 sick days were taken by heads or deputy heads for mental health reasons in 2017-18, compared to 158 the previous year.

Days taken by other teachers and support staff over mental health also rose, meaning 3,555 days were lost to the problem in Argyll and Bute in 2017/18 – compared to 3,166 in 2016/17 and 3,117 in 2015/16.

The data was revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrats.

“Unions are worried by falling teacher morale”

Figures show almost 400,000 sick days were taken by teaching staff in Scotland for mental ill-health in the last three years, more than 145,000 of them last year.

A council spokesman said: “Local authorities across Scotland are all experiencing a rise in sickness absence – something we are taking very seriously.

“The health and wellbeing of our workforce is a priority and we have put a variety of support services in place to help our employees.

“These include employee counselling, referrals to occupational health specialists and a stress reduction policy.

“We have also established a healthy working lives steering group.”

Tavish Scott, Lib Dem education spokesman, said: “The pressure on classroom teachers is obvious.

“Teaching unions are worried by falling teacher morale, the top-down approach to education by central government and the impact of testing regimes on classrooms.”