Education Support’s 2023 Teacher Wellbeing Index, has once again, highlighted some of the key challenges facing education staff – teachers, leaders, and support staff.
The headline results show that:
- Stress is at an all-time high, with 78% of school and college staff, 89% of senior leaders and 95% of headteachers experiencing work related stress.
- 21% of teachers and 24% of leaders are facing acute stress.
- 39% of staff had mental health issues due to work, another all-time high.
- 35% of staff and 40% of senior leaders also reported signs of burnout.
- 55% of staff said their institution’s culture negatively impacted the mental health and wellbeing of staff.
- 71% of staff agreed that inspections negatively impact the mental health and wellbeing of staff and 73% believed they do not improve student outcomes.
With stress, depression, and anxiety accounting for 51% of all work-related ill health in 2021-22 (HSE, 2022), it’s clear to see the impact that poor staff wellbeing has on outcomes – and it has taken a further downturn in the past 12 months. Sadly these findings will come ad no surprise to most of us working in education.
What can we do to improve education staff wellbeing?
We know the long-term answer includes reform, structural change, much greater funding and increasing the capacity of leaders to lead – both their available time and knowledge.
Yet if we look for any major changes to be implemented by the Government, I suspect we will have a very long wait.
So, what can leaders do to provide greater support to those they lead and how can they help staff better look after their own wellbeing?
To help, we’ve put together a guide for education leaders to share some steps they can take to address this and reduce or prevent workplace stress. You can read it here