The government is being urged to develop a “clear and explicit strategy” to protect the mental health of the school workforce, as data published today shows an increase in the number of staff seeking support because they were at risk of suicide.
The call for action comes after the charity Education Support identified 153 callers to its helpline as being at risk of suicide in the past quarter - the highest figure for a three-month period on record.
The figures, published by Tes today, show a 33 per cent rise on the previous quarter - when 115 were recorded - and a 40 per cent rise on the first quarter of 2023-24, when 109 callers were recorded as being at risk.
The proportion of callers - including both teachers and other education staff - identified as being “with suicide risk” rose to its highest-ever level in the past quarter, with 11.8 per cent of the 1,297 individual callers identified as “at risk” in the quarter to 30 June 2024.
Warning over teacher mental health
In 2023-24, 8.8 per cent of callers were identified as a suicide risk in total, slightly down from the 9.3 per cent recorded in 2022-23.
Speaking to Tes, Sinéad Mc Brearty, CEO of Education Support, said the latest rise highlights “the critical need for open dialogue and supportive environments in schools, and an explicit suicide awareness campaign across education”.
Ms Mc Brearty said there is not currently “a single sector provision, message, campaign set of resources for education, and that is a pretty low-cost and easy fix to get out across the whole sector”.
“We have continued to wait for recovery in the sector [after Covid] and that hasn’t come yet,” she added.
Ms Mc Brearty said: “We need to have a clear and explicit strategy about raising the overall wellbeing of the workforce if we want to be in a place where we can deliver on best outcomes for young people.”
However, while stressing that she was keen to “not in any way minimise the issue of health”, Ms McBrearty said the figures recorded by Education Support “cannot be taken as a standalone indicator”. The figures were a “fraction of all the people in our workforce”, she added.
“I think it would be very easy to see this as a really disturbing set of data and I think...as counterintuitive as it may sound, there is good news here. I say that because here we are on the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day and the thing that we know is so critical is that they have access to support and have someone to talk to,” Ms Mc Brearty said.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said the figures revealed by Tes “confirm the ongoing increase in the number of teachers reporting significant work-related mental ill health, depression and anxiety”.
Dr Roach said the union was “committed to working with ministers to continue to reshape the teaching landscape to ensure teacher welfare is recognised as central to securing higher standards and improved outcomes for pupils”.
The NASUWT has previously called for the government to introduce suicide prevention training for school leaders, fully funded mandatory mental health training for all school staff, and suicide prevention training for workplace representatives.
Teachers and education staff can call the Education Support helpline to talk to a qualified counsellor on 08000 562 561
You can call the Samaritans for free on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit www.samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.
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