The annual Teacher Wellbeing Index finds that more than three-quarters of the teaching staff surveyed report mental health symptoms linked to their work, including high levels of anxiety, depression, stress and burn-out.
Published by the charity Education Support UK, the research this year has involved more than 3,000 staff working in schools across the country, including teaching assistants, teachers, and school leaders.
The study makes for sobering reading once again, although there is a positive note with a year-on-year decrease in the number of respondents who believe their school’s culture has a negative impact on their wellbeing.
This year’s findings include:
- 78% of teachers are stressed rising to 84% of school leaders. Reported stress is higher in primary (86%) than in secondary (80%) phase.
- 50% of all staff say that their school’s culture has a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing (although this is down from 55% in 2023).
- 35% of staff have experienced a mental health issue in the past academic year, and 38% do not believe that their school supports employees with mental health and wellbeing problems well.
- 45% of staff say they have experienced symptoms of anxiety in the past year, 35% have experienced symptoms of burn-out; 28% have experienced symptoms of depression; 20% have symptoms of acute stress.
When it comes to mental health symptoms, staff said they experienced insomnia or difficulty sleeping (46%), mood swings (44%), and tearfulness (39%) – all higher than in 2023.
Only 20% of the respondents said they had not experienced any mental health symptoms in the last 12 months.
On a more positive note, the research finds that 27% of staff now say that their school’s culture has a positive impact on their wellbeing, with the most important aspects of a healthy school culture identified as good leadership, good staff relationships, a high level of trust and autonomy, and where staff feel supported.
Where school culture is negative, staff report high workloads, poor work/life balance, poor student behaviour, and a lack of support.
The research uses the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale to create a wellbeing score for education staff and this year’s result is 43.90 – marginally worse than last year. Those with scores between 41 and 45 should be considered at high risk of psychological distress and increased risk of depression.
Furthermore, 35% of the respondents had a score of 40 or below, indicating that they are at risk of major depression.
Challenging behaviour
The research this year focuses on the impact of challenging behaviour from both students and parents, with many respondents saying that this has become more of a problem in the past 12 months.
In particular, 57% of staff said that students have become more disruptive in lessons, with more incidents of challenging behaviour (63%) and students who are more verbally abusive (51%) – 82% of the respondents said that dealing with this increasingly challenging behaviour has had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
For parents, 43% of the staff in the survey said that vexatious complaints have increased – rising to 56% among school leaders; 33% of all staff said that parents are more verbally abusive this year.
Respondents to the survey were asked why they felt problems had gotten worse, with many putting issues with student behaviour down to unmet SEMH needs and issues relating to deprivation.
One teacher involved in the research, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Pressure from parents has negatively impacted my mental health. I frequently find myself overthinking interactions, feeling inadequate and exhausted by the demands of my role. This stress has affected my personal life, leaving me too tired to engage with my family or take care of myself.”
A deputy head added: “We see a much higher number of parental complaints, vexatious complaints are a particular issue for school leaders. Complaints affect classroom teachers’ mental health massively; frequent, long emails from parents, worrying about how to respond, expectations to respond immediately, worrying about the next email or if they will be spoken about on social media or in WhatsApp groups.
“Everything comes to school – we have no boundaries – we’re the only compulsory universal service. More pupils are finding things difficult and this understandably causes parents anxiety. As a parent of a child with SEND myself, I know it brings a huge amount of difficulties and frustration with the lack of support available.”
Recommendations and commentary
The report is calling on the new government to develop “dedicated retention strategies” that account “for the widening responsibilities that now come with a career in education following the Covid-19 pandemic”.
It urges schools and government to embrace professional supervision as a potential solution. This is an approach that offers the opportunity for an employee and a skilled supervisor to reflect on work practice.
The report states: “Government must prioritise the provision of targeted, high-quality support to leaders if we are to retain talent at all levels across the sector. Reflective practice such as professional supervision has an emerging evidence base of impact for leaders.
“We know that professional supervision is an intervention that makes a material difference to the wellbeing and retention of this group. High-quality support should be available to all school and college leaders in the UK.”
The report also urges a “proper settlement” for education from the Treasury in order to improve SEND and mental health provision and to tackle deprivation.
Sinéad McBrearty, chief executive of Education Support, said: "Disturbingly high rates of stress, anxiety, and burn-out continue to affect education staff, exacerbated by pupil and parent behaviour, and a lack of support outside school for children and young people. The impact on teachers’ mental health is significant, and partly explains why so many are leaving the profession. These issues point to societal challenges beyond education that require deep thinking and creativity to address."
- Teachers or education staff feeling emotionally distressed can call the Education Support helpline 24/7 on 08000 562 561. The number is free and offers immediate support. You do not have to be in crisis to speak to a qualified councillor. If you’re worried you cannot keep yourself safe right now, please call 999 or go to A&E. Visit www.educationsupport.org.uk
- You can download the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024 report via www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index