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Policy changes, budget cuts, fewer staff and bigger classes blamed for toll on teachers’ mental health revealed by figures compiled by Lib Dems

Teaching unions are warning of an ā€œepidemic of stressā€ as research revealed that 3,750 teachers were

signed off on longterm sick leave last year because of pressure of work, anxiety and mental illness.

Figures obtained through a mass freedom of information request show a 5% rise on the year before,

revealing that one in 83 teachers spent more than a month off work in 2016-17.

Altogether 1.3 million days have been taken off by teachers for stress and mental health reasons in the last four years, including around 312,000 in 2016-17, the figures compiled by the Liberal Democrats show.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, warned of an ā€œepidemic of stressā€.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/11/teachers-england-suffering-from-so-much-stress-explainer

Why teachers in England are suffering from so much stress
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ā€œTeachers work more unpaid overtime than any other profession,ā€ she said. ā€œClassroom teachers routinely work 55 hours or over a week.

School leaders routinely work over 60 hours a week.

ā€œAnd it is not just the amount of work. It is the pressures of a punitive and non-productive accountability system.ā€

Bousted said the number of ways in which a school could be deemed to be failing had ballooned in recent years – and there was relentless pressure to demonstrate even minute progress.

She said that often came at the cost of ā€œreal improvementsā€, describing English children as some of the ā€œmost over-assessed in the modern worldā€.

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https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/11/epidemic-of-stress-blamed-for-3750-teachers-on-longterm-sick-leave

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