Stress drives teachers to brink

TEACHERS complaining of stress, depression and anxiety have contributed to a huge upsurge in long-term sickness among staff at city schools.

Teaching unions today hit out at employers who "ignore" stress amongst their staff, saying teachers are put under enormous pressures both physically and mentally.

The number of Edinburgh teachers off for eight weeks or more has risen significantly by 28 per cent in just a 12-month period, and staff say depression, anxiety and stress are to blame for a large number of the days off.

The scale of the issue is revealed in new figures obtained under freedom of information rules.

They show teachers are being signed off work on long-term sickness for almost 19,000 days a year for a range of reasons.

They have been taking at least eight weeks off work for complaints such as knee pain, ankle injuries, ear infections, exhaustion, stress and flu between June 2007 and June this year.

A total of 182 primary, secondary and special school teachers working in Edinburgh's state schools have been off long-term sick over the past year.

The longest period of absence during this period was for 358 days for a teacher receiving chemotherapy treatment, but the most common illnesses were depression, anxiety and stress.

Roy Robertson, treasurer of the teaching union NASUWT Scotland, said he was not surprised that so many teachers in the Capital had been signed off by their doctors.

He said: "It saddens me more than surprises me, because as a union we have become more and more aware of stress and depression in the classroom.

"We need to start tackling this at both Government and local authority level. The Government needs to stop bringing out new curriculums at every turn and the local authorities need to start treating it seriously and stop ignoring it.

A spokesman for the EIS, Scotland's biggest teaching union, today said: "Teaching is a stressful profession and tackling stress-related illness must be a priority for all local authority employers." Only by doing this could they hope to reduce absence, he said.

The figures – which include weekends and holidays – are for the total period of time teachers are signed off work by their doctors, leading to a collective total of 18,770 days over the past 12 months. The figure for the previous 12 months was 14,674.

A council spokeswoman said: "The records are open to misinterpretation as it is often the initial reason for absence which is noted but not the other symptoms that can develop from this.

"All long-term sickness absence must also be accompanied by a doctor's line.

"After a certain amount of time, occupational health advisers are brought in to help long-term absentees."