Many teachers are suffering from clinical depression amid a “mental health crisis in schools”, according to findings released today.
Wellbeing scores among the 12,000 self-selected teachers who took part in a survey by the NASUWT teaching union were, on average, indicative of clinical depression.
The research shows ”widespread evidence of clinical depression among teachers and headteachers”, the union stated.
The NASUWT wellbeing survey, carried out between December 2021 and January 2022, is based on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, which poses 14 statements and five options for answering, ranging from “none of the time” to “all of the time”.
The scores are then totalled up and an average score is taken. Analysis by NASUWT found an average wellbeing score among teachers of 38.7, a score below 41 indicates the risk of probable clinical depression.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said the findings provide “disturbing evidence” of a “mental health crisis in schools”.
The survey also found that classroom teachers, disabled teachers and teachers working in deprived areas were more likely to show signs of depression.
Dr Roach also said that teachers and headteachers were “at breaking point” and “urgent action” was needed ”to tackle the root causes of the mental health crisis” in schools.
He added: “Ministers need to wake up to the facts and commit to making improving the morale and health of the profession their number-one priority.”
Data from the Labour Force Survey and reported by the Health and Safety Executive in December last year suggested that teaching and other educational professionals - along with occupations such as health, customer service and protective service - had statistically higher rates of work-related stress, anxiety and depression.
NASUWT previously revealed that nine in 10 (91 per cent) of teachers surveyed said that their job had adversely impacted their mental health over the past year.
And more than half of teachers (52 per cent) said workload was the most important factor in damaging their mental health, while 34 per cent cited the consequences of the pandemic.
You need a Tes subscription to read this article
Subscribe now to read this article and get other subscriber-only content:
