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Three in 10 teachers using medication to cope with pressure of job

Three in 10 teachers using medication to cope with pressure of job

Union leader says it is time to end an ‘anything goes’ style of management where teacher stress is regarded as ‘collateral damage’

31st March 2018, 9:36am

Charlotte Santry

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Three in 10 teachers say they have turned to medication over the last year to deal with the physical and mental toll their job is taking on them, a survey has found.

The NASUWT teaching union also found that more than four in 10 (41 per cent) of the 4,080 members surveyed had seen a doctor or medical professional, while 15 per cent said they have undergone counselling.

The survey also found that in the last 12 months, as a result of their job:

77 per cent have experienced anxiety
85 per cent have suffered from loss of sleep
22 per cent have increased their use of alcohol
9 per cent have suffered a relationship breakdown
3 per cent have self-harmed

These findings come as more than three quarters (78 per cent) of teachers report they have experienced an increase in workplace stress over the past 12 months. And more than four out of five (84 per cent) saying their job has impacted negatively on their health and wellbeing over the last year.

Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) of teachers also feel their job has adversely affected their mental health and over half (54 per cent) feel it has affected their physical health in the last 12 months.

The survey findings also show that 56 per cent of teachers say their job satisfaction has declined in the last 12 months. Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) have seriously considered leaving the teaching profession in the last year.

Teachers’ mental health and wellbeing is the first topic being discussed today at the NASUWT’s Annual Conference in Birmingham.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “These figures are an appalling catalogue of dedicated and committed teachers suffering damage to their physical and mental health.

“It is clear that too many employers are failing to exercise their duty of care for the health and welfare of their employees and are presiding over mental and physical burnout.

“It is nothing short of a national scandal that those who are dedicating themselves to giving a future to children and young people are seeing their own lives damaged by the failure of government and employers to take their health and welfare seriously.

“The time has come to end the culture of the ‘anything goes’ style of management where any adverse impact on teachers is regarded as collateral damage.”