HUNDREDS of York teachers have taken time off as they are too stressed to work, figures have shown.

A Freedom of Information request found 280 members of staff at schools in York have been recorded as off sick because of mounting pressure and 7,124 teaching days have been lost in five years.

Senior teachers say increased work loads, Ofsted inspections and reductions in school budgets have all contributed to a rise in stress levels.

City of York Council figures show 65 people were off sick due to stress in 2012, followed by 58 a year later, 76 in 2014, 58 in 2015 and 23 between January 1 and April 14 this year.

Thousands of teaching hours have been lost over the same amount of time, with 1,772 hours lost to stress related sickness in 2012, 1,814 in 2013, 1,720 in 2014, 1,326 in 2015 and 492 hours lost in the first four months of this year.

Although the figures show a reduction over the five years, Vic Klays, deputy head at All Saints School, says he is concerned this gives an incorrect impression.

He said: "I believe that stress, anxiety and depression are a serious problem in education for young people and the staff-teachers and support staff.

"We live in a complex world and high stakes accountability where pressure exists across the system, from the children to the headteacher who could easily lose their job if Ofsted judgements are poor.

"As a result some people try to hide their problems with potentially disastrous consequences,which may help explain the decline in some aspects of these figures.

"At All Saints we have deliberately tried to raise the profile of this mental health issue through a student group called Action Minds, over the last two years and we have recently also created a similar Staff Action Minds group for the same reason."

Another deputy head teacher at a school in York, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had seen a increase in stress levels over the last four years.

He put this down to a number of factors, including the pace of curriculum change and Government reforms, changes to assessment routines for students of all ages, an increased workload and a cut in support from groups working in social care and mental health.

He added: "It is not uncommon for teachers to work 60 hour weeks on a regular basis at the expense of themselves and their families and the expectations on them do not diminish but only increase.

"In addition to those colleagues across the city who have had time off with stress there are huge numbers of teachers who are managing challenging stress levels incredibly successfully but that doesn’t mean that this is a good thing for them or the students they support so well."