Tes Wellbeing Report 2026

A clearer view of the pressures school leaders are navigating

Across UK schools, leaders are balancing ambitious expectations around inclusion, pupil outcomes and staff support within increasingly stretched environments. As those pressures grow, understanding staff experience becomes critical.

The Teacher Wellbeing Report 2026 brings together direct feedback from school staff to help senior leaders understand where the greatest pressures are emerging, how they are affecting workforce confidence and what they may mean for longer-term retention and school improvement.

• Workforce sustainability: Understand what staff are saying about their long-term future in the profession, and what this may signal for retention, continuity and leadership planning.
• Inclusion under pressure: Explore how schools are managing the gap between the ambition of inclusive practice and the practical realities of classroom delivery.
• SEND complexity in the classroom: See why meeting a diverse range of SEND needs within a single class has become such a defining challenge for staff.
• Support capacity: Understand the extent to which staffing constraints, especially around support staff, are affecting schools’ ability to provide inclusive and sustainable support.
• Hidden need: Learn more about the challenge staff face in supporting pupils who are struggling but may not yet have formal SEND identification or designation.
• Leadership implications: Use the findings to inform strategy, internal discussion and planning around staff support, inclusion, resourcing and workforce resilience.

This report is designed for leaders looking for evidence, not assumptions.
It will be particularly valuable for:

• Headteachers and senior leadership teams
• MAT CEOs and trust executive leaders
• COOs and operational leaders
• HR and people leaders in education
• SEND and inclusion leaders
• School improvement leaders

Governors and trustees with oversight of workforce and wellbeing strategy#
Whether you are reviewing staff wellbeing, planning for retention, strengthening inclusion or shaping trust-wide priorities, this report provides data-led insight to support better-informed decisions.

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For many schools and trusts, the challenge is no longer identifying that pressure exists. It is understanding where pressure is building fastest, which issues are becoming most significant and how those pressures connect.

The findings in this report point to a wider leadership challenge:

• staff commitment remains high, but long-term confidence is under strain
• inclusion remains a priority, but capacity to deliver it consistently is under pressure
• workforce challenges are no longer confined to recruitment alone, but increasingly linked to everyday staff experience
• unmet need in classrooms may be adding complexity beyond formal processes and labels

For senior leaders, these are not isolated issues. They sit at the intersection of wellbeing, staffing, inclusion and school effectiveness.