The Ulster Teachers Union (UTU) says the profession is being “bled dry”.
Teachers in Northern Ireland schools are missing an average of almost 10 days a year due to illness, the new figures reveal. In secondary schools alone, the average was 10.2 days.
Overall, teacher sick leave is at its highest level in five years, which is also driving up sub teacher costs. A total of £73.6 million was spent last year.
The average number of days lost per teacher due to sickness in all schools was 9.5. This represents an increase of 1.3 days from the previous year.
UTU general secretary Avril Hall Callaghan says sick-leave is up, the pupil-teacher ratio is up, teacher substitution costs are up and the workforce is ageing.
“The statistics paint a bleak picture of the state of our education system,” she said. “We have been highlighting issues surrounding each one of these statistics for some time now, warning parents that it is their children who will bear the brunt. Now we have the statistical evidence to back that up.
“Teacher morale is at an all-time low – we are already involved in long-running industrial action over pay and workload.”
She adds that the union is seeing teachers whose vocation is to educate and nurture “buckle under the stress of trying to cope”.
She continued: “We are seeing teachers unable to fulfil their vocation and passion to engender a love or learning, and being stretched to snapping point as they battle to juggle teaching with the paperwork and fatuous box-ticking now demanded.
“Is it any wonder sick leave is up and we are losing our young people, that vital fresh blood with their vigour and enthusiasm, from the profession? We need a sea-change if this downward spiral is to be stemmed.”