Teachers’ Mental Health At Risk Says Research: New research has shown that almost two fifths of school and college staff (38%) have noticed a rise in mental health issues among their colleagues in the last two years.  In addition, more than half (55%) said that they themselves had noticed work pressures having a detrimental effect on their own mental health. The findings come from a poll carried out by the Association for Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) which asked the opinions of 925 education professionals across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Among those who responded with the opinion that their role did have an impact on their mental health, 80% said they were stressed – whilst 70% were exhausted by their teaching jobs and two-thirds (66%) said that they had trouble sleeping.  In addition, almost a third said their role had affected their appetite, and just under half (47%) said that they suffered from headaches.

Teachers’ Mental Health At Risk Says Research

The ATL also found that among those who were suffering from mental health issues, more than two thirds (68%) had kept it a secret from their bosses, compared with only 38% who hid a physical illness or problem. The Union has suggested that this outlines a worrying stigma which is still attached to mental health and mental health issues within the teaching profession.

Talking about the findings of the survey, Mary Bousted, the ATL’s general secretary, had the following points to make:

“Education professionals do more unpaid overtime than any other group and are put under constant pressure to meet targets.”

She went on to mention ‘excessive observation’ by Ofsted and criticised the agency for ‘pretending that there’s no problem with the quality control of its inspections.’ {Tweet this}

As part of the research, a lecturer from a Manchester college described a profession beset by stress, illness and fatigue:

“Work eats in to every aspect of a teacher’s life…teachers are over-worked, stressed and unhappy. The profession is full of ill health and tiredness.”{Tweet this}