By Sheila Mckenzie-
One in twenty teachers, that is 5% of the whole, have reported having a long-lasting mental health problem, according to a disturbing study.
The study by the UCL Institute of Education found around 5 per cent of teachers in England suffer from a long-lasting mental health problem which has lasted or is likely to last for more than 12 months, up from 1 per cent in the 1990s.
It follows increased pressure on teachers to meet higher academic standards right across the board from primary and secondary schools, work load stress, and bad behaviour of pupils. The research goes further to claim that the mental health of other professionals, such as nurses and accountants, has also deteriorated over the same period.
Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the research analysed data from over 20,000 education professionals collected through the Labour Force Survey, Annual Population Survey and the Health Survey for England between 1992 and 2018.
Professor John Jerrim, the lead author of the paper, warned the teaching profession is “currently in the midst of a crisis and one potential reason why its struggling to recruit and retain enough teachers is due to the pressures of the job”.
“It has long been known that teaching is a stressful and challenging career and we wanted to see if the mental health and wellbeing of teachers had improved or declined, especially in light of government promises to ease the burden upon the teaching profession,” he added.
Researchers believe the increase in reports may be due to teachers being more transparent about their mental health issues, in search for professional help.
This was consistent with a finding that there has been no increase or decrease in unhappiness, anxiety or feelings of low-self-worth among teachers in a decade.
“The results from our study may therefore not be as worrying as they first seem, if it means more teachers who are struggling with their mental health are now getting help,” said Jerrim. He called for more work to monitor and improve the mental wellbeing of the profession.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said there was “no doubt that the excessive demands upon education staff and the poor working practices they endure in schools and colleges are helping create a toxic work environment, leading to mental ill-health among both teachers and support staff”.
“It is no wonder that we cannot recruit and retain the staff we so desperately need if workload demands are totally unsustainable. The challenge for the government is to address these issues and ensure that education staff are nurtured and supported in their role but there is currently little sign of any concrete action in this respect.”