Sick teachers 'quit to take new posts'

MORE than a third of teachers who are allowed to retire early because of ill health take up new jobs, many of them teaching-related, new research has shown.

Academics at Glasgow University warned that teachers could be abusing the system as a way of getting out of the profession through the "inappropriate use of ill health retirement." They called on councils to investigate how the early retirement system operates.

In 2002-3, 174 teachers retired from the profession due to ill health after providing evidence of their permanent incapacity to work as a teacher. The vast majority will have been entitled to claim a teacher's pension - at taxpayers' expense.

But the study, by Glasgow University's healthy working lives research group, into nearly 300 teachers who have taken early retirement, casts doubt on how many are genuinely incapacitated.

A copy of their findings, obtained by The Scotsman, shows that 36 per cent of those surveyed have gone on to find other work. Of those, 28 per cent were in teaching-related posts.

The report warns that the system is open to abuse.

"In addition to the problems of teacher sickness, absence and turnover, large numbers of teachers are looking for early retirement as a way out of teaching, perhaps because of stress or because the job is causing them excessive pressure," it said.

"For some this is legitimate, but for many this maybe is inappropriate use of ill health retirement."

The study points out: "It is clear that moving staff to alternative duties, enabling 'stepping down', and active programmes of rehabilitation need to be considered prior to ill health retirement."

It adds: "The process of the evaluation of teachers applying for ill health retirement should be reviewed to establish whether those whose health subsequently improves can be identified at the application stage."

The report reveals that the most common cause of early retirement is mental disorder. It also says that the support available to teachers experiencing ill health is "inadequate and insufficient".

Dr Ewan Macdonald, the head of the research group, told The Scotsman it was vital that more help was given to teachers to prevent them retiring.

He said: "There is an issue about the amount of support teachers get and whether employers are doing enough to keep them in the workforce, given the current teacher shortages."

David Eaglesham, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, admitted that occupational health provision within the profession was not good enough - and warned that the problem was getting worse.

He said: "With an ageing profession, we're going to have more health-related issues coming up.

"If there's a problem at the moment, it's not going to get any better in the next five or six years, because there will simply be more demand on the service."

Mike Finlayson, the chief executive of Teacher Support Scotland, said: "The lack of support for teachers and [the lack of] understanding of the complex causes which lead to their lack of wellbeing is damaging teachers' health and is detrimental to education in Scotland.

"Failure to support teachers in Scotland is also costly, as schools increasingly have to provide cover for teachers absent with ill heath," Mr Finlayson said.