Rise in number of teachers off work with stress (From York Press)
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Rise in number of teachers off work with stress
9:07am Monday 19th November 2012 in News
By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk
John Tomsett
THE number of teachers off work with stress in York and North Yorkshire has risen sharply in the past five years.
Figures released by City of York Council under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the academic year 2007/8 there were 45 teachers off work with stress, a figure which rose to 65 the following year and which reached 73 in the 2011/12 academic year.
Meanwhile, in North Yorkshire – including Ryedale and Selby – the number of teachers who have had time off work suffering from stress or stress-related illnesses was 247 in 2006/7, and had risen to 280 in 2011/12.
Teachers’ unions and head teachers put much of the problem down to increased workload due in the main to changes in the Ofsted inspection system in recent years.
The most recent changes came into effect from September 1 with no-notice inspections replaced by a new short-notice inspection which normally means schools get a phone call the afternoon before the inspectors arrive. That call could come at any time.
Barbara Reagan, division secretary for City of York National Union of Teachers, said: “The workload for teachers has got worse over the past few years because of the changes to Ofsted making it harder for schools to get the ‘good’ grading that they want.
“Head teachers are under a lot more stress as well as classroom teachers as a result and this is not just a problem in York and North Yorkshire, but across the country as a whole.
“These figures probably only paint half the picture as I suspect there will be under-reporting. Really, people who are off with stress are just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of people go into work who are very stressed because if you are off work, your workload doesn’t go away.
“People think teachers have long holidays to compensate, but most work through their weekends and evenings and during some of the holidays.”
Andy Sutton, the York secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, said: “Pressure from Ofsted and the pressure of getting good exam results mean the number of hours teachers are working is increasing all the time and for many people the increased workload has a cumulative effect.
“Teachers want to improve standards in schools and you can’t do that if you are not able to go into school refreshed the next day because you are working excessively long hours.”
John Tomsett, head teacher at Huntington School in York, said: “I think head teachers are under more pressure than anyone and it’s our job to soak up pressure and make sure that a climate of fear doesn’t filter into schools. We are only going to be judged a good school if all 107 of my teachers feel motivated.”
Jill Hodges, assistant director for education and skills at City of York Council, said: “We take very seriously the issue of stress in the workplace and work with schools in York to tackle this issue proactively and as a preventative measure. We offer support to head teachers to manage individual cases and provide access to both the occupational health team and free counselling services.”
Comments(24)
Even AndyD
says...
11:15am Mon 19 Nov 12
beretta
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11:30am Mon 19 Nov 12
yorkshirelad
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12:19pm Mon 19 Nov 12
It seems that relentless change, admin/paperwork, denigration by government and a time-consuming inspection regime all add up.
I want teachers to be predominantly focused on doing the job they are trained to do and it does annoy me if external pressures detract from that.
We should respect teachers and support the work they do for our children often in difficult circumstances.
Apart from being a parent I have no connection to schools or schoolteachers.
roskoboskovic
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12:33pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Even AndyD
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12:44pm Mon 19 Nov 12
roskoboskovic wrote:I teach now after 20yrs in the private sector and a period of retraining. Comparing both sides, I'd say that whilst teachers work hard, it is no more difficult than out there in the 'commercial' world and the terms and conditions tend to be better. Just my take on it, others may think differently.
when i was at school most teachers were doing it because they d always wanted to teach and saw it as something of a vocation.with wages of 30k plus it became attractive to anyone with a degree able to take a years course and become a teacher.a lot of these people shouldn t be teaching and this is partly to blame for the failings of our education system.
By and large everyone now has to work hard for their pay I would suggest.
bloodaxe
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1:36pm Mon 19 Nov 12
roskoboskovic wrote:Well clearly teachers didn't do much for your punctuation skills. When you were at school "most teachers" were in teaching because they wanted to do it. Now they do it only for the money, resulting in a fall in standards. So your remedy would be to cut salaries presumably. "Anyone with a degree". Would you rather that they didn't have degrees ? Of course anyone with a degree can consider teaching and why shouldn't they ? The reason teachers are under so much stress is that they are under a constant barrage of ill-informed criticism (including from the government) using wrong statistics and predicated on a political agenda. With the sort of Daily Mail carping exemplified by some people on these posts it's amazing that there are any teachers at all. Don't take this personally.
when i was at school most teachers were doing it because they d always wanted to teach and saw it as something of a vocation.with wages of 30k plus it became attractive to anyone with a degree able to take a years course and become a teacher.a lot of these people shouldn t be teaching and this is partly to blame for the failings of our education system.
bloodaxe
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1:42pm Mon 19 Nov 12
YorkPatrol
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1:49pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Ignatius Lumpopo
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1:52pm Mon 19 Nov 12
bob the builder
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2:20pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Happy Chappie
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2:23pm Mon 19 Nov 12
tobefair
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2:29pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Guy Fawkes
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3:15pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Teachers’ unions and head teachers put much of the problem down to increased workload due in the main to changes in the Ofsted inspection system in recent years.
The most recent changes came into effect from September 1 with no-notice inspections replaced by a new short-notice inspection which normally means schools get a phone call the afternoon before the inspectors arrive. That call could come at any time.
So in other words, head teachers and the unions are claiming that they cannot achieve the standards required by Ofsted, except for a short period of time and with lots of notice. The idea of pre-arranged inspections defeats the object of the exercise: the inspectors won't get to see how a school operates under normal circumstances, because there will have been a spit and polish offensive for weeks before their arrival.
DEKKA
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3:36pm Mon 19 Nov 12
bob the builder wrote:Short working day? 3+ hours extra each evening, another 3+ hours every Saturday and Sunday resulting in a 60+ hour week at least. Teachers don't turn up at 9:00, teach and then go home at 15:30 you know.
Those who can't - teach as they say. Nice holidays, short working days, £40k a year plus as much sick leave as you can get in. If I had a meaningless degree I'd apply.
yorkshirelad
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6:10pm Mon 19 Nov 12
The relentless thuggish Sun/Mail style attacks clearly have some people believing them. For the section of society that believes all that stuff, perhaps you won't know what you've lost until it's gone.
Davy Crocket
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7:26pm Mon 19 Nov 12
nearlyman
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12:42am Tue 20 Nov 12
tobefair wrote:to be fair tobefair, politics will never be removed from the equation. Such a vast sum of public money is spent on education and that fact alone demands scrutiny and value assessment.
There is too much interference from government. What we need is say five years of no government, local and national. Then teacers can teach, nurses can nurse and builders can build without interference from dogma ridden politicians trying to change things that aren't broken in the first place. And think of all the money us tax payers would save not having to pay the blighters!
If we believe the politicians, of whichever creed, then they want the outcome to be a first rate education for all. Who would not ? There are an awful lot of very capable and inspirational teachers out there......but equally, as in any sphere, there are others who just cannot cut it and have maybe chosen the wrong career.
Sawday2
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7:34am Tue 20 Nov 12
roskoboskovic wrote:What a load of rubbish.
when i was at school most teachers were doing it because they d always wanted to teach and saw it as something of a vocation.with wages of 30k plus it became attractive to anyone with a degree able to take a years course and become a teacher.a lot of these people shouldn t be teaching and this is partly to blame for the failings of our education system.
sounds weird but
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9:29am Tue 20 Nov 12
The difference I can see is that the private sector is less tolerant of being off sick long term, so you tend to find less sick days are taken. Funny that.
YorkPatrol
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10:52am Tue 20 Nov 12
DEKKA wrote:Don't kid yourself...
bob the builder wrote: Those who can't - teach as they say. Nice holidays, short working days, £40k a year plus as much sick leave as you can get in. If I had a meaningless degree I'd apply.Short working day? 3+ hours extra each evening, another 3+ hours every Saturday and Sunday resulting in a 60+ hour week at least. Teachers don't turn up at 9:00, teach and then go home at 15:30 you know.
60+ hour week... I bet!
Stevie D
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9:14pm Tue 20 Nov 12
Guy Fawkes wrote:
So in other words, head teachers and the unions are claiming that they cannot achieve the standards required by Ofsted, except for a short period of time and with lots of notice.
Given that the Govemonster wants all schools to be above average, and that Ofsted have said that not only is it now harder to get 'good' than it was last year (and that was harder than it was in 2009, and that was harder than it was in 2007, and that was harder than it was in 2005) and that what used to be known as 'satisfactory' is no longer satisfactory ... I'm not at all surprised that some schools are finding it impossible to meet these standards day-in day-out.
A school that got 'outstanding' in 2005/06 would, if it had maintained exactly the same standards, be lucky to scrape through as 'good' today. I'm not saying that in itself is a bad thing – we can't afford to be complacent and we do need to challenge schools to make sure they are doing the best they can – but we also have to remember the human cost to pushing an entire profession too hard, and that is that a lot of teachers are struggling to keep going, and a lot of schools are struggling to get headteachers.
nearlyman
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8:37am Wed 21 Nov 12
sounds weird but
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9:45am Wed 21 Nov 12
nearlyman wrote:Exactly. Again this is the case commercially - always raising 'the bar'.
Its called aspiration. Never stand still. Once you do, the battle is lost.
CHISSY1 says...
10:44am Mon 19 Nov 12