Thousands of days lost to stress

Many teachers do not like to admit they have stress

Thousands of teaching days have been lost in Lincolnshire schools because staff have taken time off work due to stress, the BBC has learned.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show in the 2006-07 school year, 183 teachers gave stress as the reason why they were off sick.

Lincolnshire County Council revealed that one member of staff had been absent for more than eight months.

Overall, 8,205 teaching days were lost because of stress.

The figures for the previous year show there were 7,581 days lost to stress leave - 624 days fewer than in 2006-07.

The problem was worst in the county's primary schools, where 97 teachers had, on average, been absent for half a term.

Substantial bills

Across the East Midlands region, stressed teachers took more than 32,000 days off.

With supply staff costing around £150 a day, schools can face substantial bills to pay for cover.

Officials from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said they believed the figures did not show the full extent of the problem, because many teachers did not like to admit they were suffering from stress.

Alan Watkins Grove of the National Union of Teachers said "repeated demands to meet targets" and "bigger classes and constant observation" were putting teachers under pressure.

He called for smaller class sizes, development training and a bigger education budget to tackle the problems.

Lincolnshire County Council said it wanted to ensure all teachers had a positive work-life balance, and it was working with professional associations to offer help and support.

As part of an initiative to look at managing stress in the workplace, the council has also set up a group focusing on the challenges faced by staff in schools.

It also runs a Healthy Schools programme which recognises the importance of the well being of staff as well as children.