Latest News on WRS 

Nearly 1,000 abusive pupils are sent home every day

New figures from England and Wales show that in 2008-09 nearly 1,000 abusive pupils were sent home every day from school for attacking or verbally abusing fellow pupils or staff. Bad behaviour in schools is therefore exposed as being far worse than stated by officials, additionally head teachers find ways of hiding classroom troublemakers from Ofsted inspectors.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb has stated that: 'It's time to put teachers back in control of the classroom. We need to strip away the bureaucracy that far too often prevents them from maintaining good behaviour.'

A White Paper being published next week is expected to contain detailed proposals for tackling discipline problems, giving schools tougher powers to restrain unruly pupils, frisk youngsters for mobile phones, punish anti-social behaviour outside school, and permit the sanction of detention to be used immediately, rather than a 24 hour notice having to be issued.

A recent report has called for a ban on disruptive pupils and the Centre for Policy Studies has branded short-term suspensions as ineffective as little could be done with badly behaved children who are removed from school for less than a year.

Source: Parentdish article by Katy Holland of 18 November 2010

New teachers are not trained to deal with pupil violence

A survey in England, Wales and Scotland of 1,000 Association of Teachers and Lecturers Union (ATL) members has shown that nearly half of new teachers do not have enough training to deal with violence and additionally, two-thirds of newly qualified teachers said they did not get clear guidance on how to restrain violent students.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said a recent review found behaviour standards had improved in the majority of schools.

The ATL wants government guidelines on unruly behaviour made compulsory in schools and feels that
too many teachers simply do not have enough training to deal with the issue.                      

6 February 2010

Class war

Some angry headteachers warn that they are losing the battle for control of Scotland's schools because of levels of violence in the classroom. The University of Edinburgh's research, involving 3,500 teachers, shows that one in four headteachers feel that some pupils are so unruly that they have effectively lost control of their own schools. The problems include violence and aggression, with verbal abuse and classroom disruption a regular occurrence. Physical aggression was experienced by 8 percent of those involved in the week before the survey. The minority of severely disruptive pupils is seen to be growing in numbers. Physical destructiveness had been observed by 21 percent of staff in the previous week and 27 percent complained about being verbally abused.

A major new concern was the likely effect of reducing budgets, reducing learning support staff, removing classroom assistants and not replacing retiring teachers. The new programme encouraging  early retirements will also have a negative effect.
 
Most staff had a positive view of the majority of pupils, but were concerned about the minority of disruptive pupils.

Source : Daily Mail, Tuesday, 24 November 2009. Pages 1 & 4.

Ban badly behaved pupils from classroom, say Tories

Persistently unruly pupils should be removed from classrooms and placed in ''second chance centres'' until they learn to behave. Well behaved pupils should be allowed to learn without the disruptive influences of a few 'out of control' pupils. 70% of those polled by the Tories agreed with the suggestion and 10% felt that they should stay, however only with extra staff employed to back up teachers in the classroom. The Tories have called upon the SNP government to urgently  implement radical measures to improve discipline in schools.

50,000 crimes took place within Scottish schools last year, including racial abuse, grievous bodily harm and knife possession. 300,000 crimes have taken place on the premises of schools in England and Wales since 2004.

The scale of crimes has prompted teachers' unions to call for extra funding to protect staff and pupils from assault and vandalism.

Source: The Times, 7 September , 2009, Page 19.

Stressed teachers have used up 250 years of sick time

Over the last two years 3000 stressed Scottish teachers have taken 90,000 days off work. Teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the strain of the job as a result of large class sizes, a lack of support, poor management and pupil indiscipline. Such a high level of Work-related Stress is of great concern to parents, unsettling for pupils and a clear sign that local authorities are not providing adequate support for staff who are suffering from the physical or psychological effects of stress.

The NHS Breathing Space helpline has been set up for those struggling with personal problems and reports that they are getting many calls from teachers facing pressures at work.

Source : Daily Express, 17 August 2009, Page 4.

Maximise employee wellbeing

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) believes that line managers have the biggest impact on mental health and that management style mitigates, adds to or creates stress in the work place. The Institute has called for managers to be trained to spot signs of stress and depression, such as a drop in performance, moodiness, or lack of focus.

Source: Emily Ford. The Times, 13 May 2009, Page 53.

Whistleblower who exposed school violence is banned from the classroom
 
A General Teaching Council panel ruled that a supply teacher, who also exposed apparent attempts to trick Ofsted inspectors, abused her position while recording secret footage at four schools in London and Leeds in 2005. They rejected her claims that she acted in the public interest.

In a statement, Miss Dolan stood by her decision to make the documentary for Channel 4's Dispatches programme. "This is a sad day for investigative journalism," she said. "Programmes like Dispatches have an important role to play in drawing to the attention of the public matters of concern whether these are in hospitals, within the police force or in schools. I find it beyond comprehension that the GTC can spend three years investigating me when they should be looking on their own doorstep. "Instead they have decided to sweep it under the carpet and persecute the whistle-blower." Miss Dolan also accused the GTC of failing to face up to and deal with the serious problems that the film uncovered.

Among the revelations were that one school sent badly behaved pupils on a trip during an Ofsted inspection, and that pupils from another class were forced to have 26 different teachers in just six months.

Source:  Graeme Paton, The Telegraph, 25 March 2009

Compensation for Stress at Work

In March 2009 Jordan Publishing issued David Marshall's book on compensation for Work Related Stress, a definitive legal guide to stress at work claims. David Marshall, as a solicitor and an expert in this highly specialist field, has secured significant sums as compensation payments for clients.

Stress is now the second biggest cause of work-place absence. The Work Life Balance Centre at Coventry University has recently revealed that there had been a rise in the number of people reporting chronic fatigue, sleeplessness, irritability and headaches as a result of work-related stress. Although just over a third of respondents reported having received effective support from their employers, a quarter found that support was ineffective and 8% had found their employer’s measures actually to be counter-productive. The devastating effect of work-place stress can sometimes lead to a complete nervous breakdown and a destroyed career. Doing nothing about workplace stress is no longer an option for employers.

There is a legal duty to assess and take steps to minimise risk and this research shows both that work-place stress is on the increase and that a majority of employers are not dealing with it effectively. The best solution for the individual and the business is for them to take appropriate steps to reduce work-related stress, but where they fail to do so, Compensation for Stress at Work is designed to be a route map to the various legal remedies for employees. Litigation in respect of stress and bullying at work is increasing as the Courts are growing increasingly impatient of the failure, particularly of large employers, to take appropriate steps to deal with it.

Scottish Government: Behaviour in Schools Survey

The University of Edinburgh is to undertake a survey of pupil behaviour in schools using exhaustively detailed questionnaires aimed at headteachers, other promoted staff, unpromoted staff, support staff, full-time, permanent and temporary staff. The total number of questionnaires is fixed in proportion to the number of staff in each school.

All teachers are encouraged to complete the forms and send them direct to the University of Edinburgh. The SSTA teaching union is happy to receive copies of the responses from members. It is hoped that this exercise will reveal the true state of pupil behaviour in Scottish schools.

Source: SSTA Bulletin no. 412/09 January 2009.

15,000 teachers off sick every day

Last year, 2.9 million working days were lost in England through sickness compared to 2.5m in 1999, representing a huge cost to the taxpayer as schools are forced to hire supply staff to cover for missing teachers.  Teachers have suggested that the rise was down to the stress of extra work and bureaucracy.

Teachers were flooded with more than 6,000 pages of Government paperwork in 2008. Michael Gove, the Tory shadow schools secretary, said: "It's very worrying that the number of sick days has risen so dramatically. The Government needs to investigate the reasons so we can make sure there is as much stability as possible in every child's education."

More than 311,000 full and part time teachers took sick leave in 2007 and the average number of sick days taken by each teacher in 12 months increased from 5.1 in 1999 to 5.4, equivalent to 14,908 teachers being off sick each day. Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Given the enormous pressures teachers are under, it is remarkable that they have so little sick leave on average.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Teacher sickness levels remain low and stable and well within industry norms. Of course, teaching is an incredibly rewarding but also very challenging role and we have worked hard to reduce the pressures on teachers."

Source: Graeme Paton,  30 December 2008.

Increase in attacks on city's primary school teachers

Assaults on Glasgow primary school teachers have increased by a third over the past year. A request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Glasgow city teachers were attacked on 43 occasions, compared with the 32 attacks that took place in 2006. Education Officials do not release information on schools with fewer than five teachers for fear of the pupils concerned being identified. A number of the incidents at primary and secondary schools involved the use of a weapon. Figures for Secondary Schools showed that assaults were down from 100 in 2006 to 84 in 2007. Unions expressed concerns at the levels of violence and the apparent reluctance of the education authorities to tackle incidents rigorously.

Source:  The Herald, 11 December 2008. P. 9.

Bibliotherapy

Some Local Authorities have initiated a 'Read Yourself Well' service aimed at helping people with stress, anxiety and depression through the use of high quality self-help books. East Ayrshire Council was the first to do this and in this case access to the books can be made either directly through the library services or via a council appointed bibliotherapist. GPs and other appropriate Health Professionals are involved in the scheme and can make referrals to the bibliotherapist.

Claims against teachers double

The number of teachers suspended over claims of child mistreatment has almost doubled from 168 in 2003-04 to 314 in 2007-08.  Teachers' unions said that this could be accounted for by the rise in false accusations by pupils.

Source: The Times, Monday 15 September 2008. P. 23.

Sirs too stressed to teach

Scotland's teachers take up to six times the UK average sick leave - due to stress and depression, according to figures released today. A survey of 22 Scottish local authorities shows alarming rates of leave due to psychological ill-health.

Schools being crippled by staff shortages, a lack of resources and  insufficient support from management were quoted as contributory factors. Badly behaved pupils who were not being dealt with led to teachers being driven to the brink.

Teacher Support Scotland branded the figures as shocking and called for counselling to be brought into Scottish schools to help teachers. The Scottish Government said that it was funding the development of a "school-wide wellbeing programme."

Source: The Sun, Monday, 5 August 2008.

Call for permanent bans on pupils with weapons

Official statistics published in January for 2006 - 2007 show a further 4% rise in expulsions in Scottish schools to 45,000. The figures include a catalogue of disturbing incidents involving pupils bringing weapons into schools. Many pupils were allowed back to class after a relatively short period of expulsion.

The Educational Institute of Scotland has reported the mounting frustration of staff towards the attitude of council employers, with the belief that serious incidents are routinely swept under the carpet. The EIS Conference supported a motion to permanently exclude pupils who carry weapons.

Source: The Herald, Friday, 6 June 2008. Pages 1 and 8.

Parents lenient with children for easy life

"Highly permissive" parents who will indulge their children, giving way to temper tantrums by placating them expensive gadgets and letting them stay up late are placing an extra burden on teachers in schools.

The National Union of Teachers  report has highlighted many cases where parents cannot say no to their children's demands and are creating a culture where children have televisions and computers in their bedrooms and even take meals there, isolating themselves from the rest of the family.  Such children in schools uses the same 'temper tantrum' tactics to get their own way in the classroom.

Source: The Times, 22 March 2008, P. 4.

Classrooms have become war zones, say battered teachers

Nearly a third of teachers have been punched, kicked, bitten or pinched by children, or attacked with weapons or missiles a survey has found. More than half of teachers say that their school's policy on poor behaviour is not tough enough and two thirds have considered leaving the profession.

The 'Association of Teachers and Lecturers' survey suggests that excluding the most violent pupils does not help as they are simply moved on to another school. Poor behaviour is said to be driving teachers out of the profession and is being highly detrimental to the education of well behaved pupils. Ten percent of teachers have received physical injuries in their classrooms, twelve percent have had to visit a doctor and eight percent have had to take leave from teaching as a direct result of pupil aggression.

Three percent of teachers said that they had been involved in incidents involving knives, two thirds had been punched, half kicked and a third had been threatened.

Source: Alexandra Frean. The Times, 17 March 2008, P. 27.

Forty-five exclusions per hour as violence soars in Scottish schools

Lack of discipline has reached a dramatic new level. Statistics released by the Scottish Executive through a request by the Scottish Conservatives show that exclusions or suspensions rose by 4 per cent last year to 44,794. The number of exclusions resulting from physical assaults on staff rose by 14 per cent to 7,300. 286 exclusions were for assault with a weapon. 

Sexual violence, indecent exposure, extortion and persistent disobedience were amongst the other reasons for exclusions. Family breakdown and economic circumstances were among the other reasons given for the increasing levels of violence and abuse dealt out to teachers and support staff in schools.

Source: The Times, 30 January 2008, P. 4. By Angus Macleod.

Teachers assaulted

In East Renfrewshire a freedom of information request by the Scottish Conservatives revealed that assaults against teachers had gone up from 296 to 413 for 2006/07. West of Scotland MSP Jackson Carlaw said: "These new figures paint a damning picture of discipline in the classroom, which continues to deteriorate. Teachers should be allowed to teach - they should not have to deal with continued physical and verbal abuse from pupils"

East Renfrewshire is amongst 11 out of 32 local authorities to see a rise in attacks.

Source: Barrhead Times, 15 November 2007.

Teachers face record levels of violence in the classroom

The number of physical and verbal attacks on teachers has reached record levels,  prompting demands for more power to be given to schools to exclude disruptive and abusive pupils.

In 2006 - 2007 a total of 7,306 incidents took place, a 4% increase over the previous year. 4,608 incidents involved physical violence, a 2.2% rise.  Aberdeen had the most physical attacks and Orkney the fewest. The information was obtained through a Freedom of Information request initiated by the Scottish Conservatives. These figures were said by Murdo Fraser,  the Party's education spokesman,  to provide a full picture of violence in schools.

Source: Charlene Sweeney, The Times, Tuesday, 6 November  2007. Page 11.

ETUCE Seminar: Teachers' Work-related Stress

The European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE)  launched a Framework Agreement concerned with Teacher Stress. Two remarks encapsulated the way forward. The first is to shift the WRS debate towards organisational failure and away from the individual worker. The second is to realise that teacher "burn out" will only be prevented if the long term stress overload is prevented in the first place.

Source: Douglas Amos. SSTA Members' Newsletter. Autumn 2007.

Coping with stress

The Teacher Support Network is investigating which coping strategies work best for teachers at these difficult times so that they can further develop telephone and online coaching, counselling and information services.

If you would like to help with the research, then you should participate in the online survey.

Source: Teacher_Support_Network@mail.vresp.com

Sit down, thugs, and get your wellbeing books out

Winifred Robinson, the BBC presenter, recently went back to the council estate in Liverpool where she grew up. She remembered a neat, well-ordered community of house-proud residents, where school and family were the hubs around which society functioned, and where a child was safe to play in the streets. She found an atmosphere so ridden with fear of violence that some of those she talked to felt that it was unsafe even to be interviewed on tape. In the less than twenty years, drugs, gangs and guns had become the running theme of everyday life. It was hard to believe that this was Britain. One man on the estate made the point that to describe these groups of wild children as gangs was a misnomer - they were not that disciplined, but they certainly were dangerous, precisely because they fear no one ...

Breaking the cycle of contempt and alienation is the greatest educational challenge of our time. Politicians believe that teaching happiness, wellbeing and good manners to secondary school pupils can be done through the curriculum. This is the task that all schools are being asked to face.

Source: Magnus Linklater on the problems of teaching emotional intelligence. The Times, Wednesday 12 September 2007. p.19

Sickness Payment Enhancement Cover (SPEC)

This scheme is soon to be offered through the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA). It  is designed to enhance the income of anyone who is signed off sick for a period of 26 weeks or more. A premium of £7 per month will  normally result in a payment of £100 for up to 26 weeks and a further £200 per week for up to 52 weeks thereafter.

Any SSTA members who feel that this scheme might benefit them in the future should look out for details on the SSTA website or SSTA noticeboards. Other teachers could check to see if their professional associations provide similar cover.

Warning over depression damage

Depression has been found to cause greater damage to a person's overall health than long term physical diseases, such as angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes. This global study, published in the 'Lancet' , used a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 was the worst state of health.  Depressed people averaged 72.9, asthmatics 80.3, angina sufferers 79.6, arthritics 79.3 and diabetics 78.9. Past studies have also shown that depression has the greatest disabling effects of any disease. In 2000 a study using 'WHO' data, showed that depression globally had the fourth greatest public health impact and by 2020 it is expected to have jumped to second place.

Depression can lead to stigma, social exclusion and discrimination, however mild to moderate depression responds well to talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which  aims to change people's pattern of thinking or behaviour. Psychoanalysis and counselling are other helpful therapies.

The early signs of depressive illness are moods, irritability, withdrawal, feelings of guilt, severe self-criticism, feelings of hopelessness, an inability to concentrate and a lack of care over personal appearance.

Source: Rob Robertson. The Herald. Friday 7 September 2007. p. 14.

Am I Normal?

Current estimates are that at least 1 in 20 pupils demonstrating severely disruptive and violent behaviour are ADHD sufferers and require medication and / or help with learning to adhere to the boundaries of normal behaviour.

Source: BBC Radio 4. Tuesday, 7 August 2007.

Teachers demand ban on sites used by cyber-bullies

Websites such as YouTube, LSN and RateMyTeachers.com should be closed down to prevent the bullying of staff and pupils online, according to the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT). Violence and poor behaviour are the most common reasons given by staff who leave the profession. Parents need to do more tackle bad attitudes, especially in the light of figures such as the 640 primary school pupils who were suspended last year for racist or lewd and sexually abusive behaviour, including bullying.

Images of teachers and pupils being humiliated are regularly being posted on the web. Cyber bullying intimidates and humiliates 24/7 and reaches a far greater audience than classroom or playground bullying. Sites such as RateMyTeachers allow people to vent their anger in the most humiliating of language, often years after a detention or rebuke was given for such relatively minor faults as failing to hand in homework on time.

Source: Alexandra Blair, The Times, 1 August, 2007. p. 22.

British teenagers 'worst in Europe'

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has found that British teenagers are more likely to fight, binge drink, take drugs or have under-age sex than their contemporaries in any other European country. Figures show that 59%  of 15-year-old Scottish boys and 48% of girls spend four or more evenings a week with friends. On average British teenagers spend half of their spare time playing computer games or surfing the net.

The IPPR called for compulsory after-school activities to encourage the development of other interests and to help teenagers learn appropriate behavioural and social skills and to learn how to work towards specific goals.

Source: Rob Robertson. The Herald. Friday 27 July 2007. p. 3.

Teacher suspended for secretly filming disruptive pupils for TV

A supply teacher who filmed her pupils fighting, being excessively disruptive, swearing and making obscene suggestions towards her has been found guilty by the General Teaching Council (GTC) of unacceptable conduct and suspended from teaching for a year.  Apart from being physically and verbally abusive, pupils were also filmed searching for pornography on the web.  Her defence that the film was in the public-interest was dismissed.

The GTC stated that she was lacking the basic skills needed to manage the behaviour of her pupils, including a failure to model respectful behaviour to pupils and the use of indiscriminate negative comments to whole classes in response to bad behaviour by individual pupils.  The GTC went on to say that no lasting damage had been done to the pupils or the schools concerned.

The teacher concerned indicated that she believes that teachers and many parents are aware that a minority of pupils are blighting the opportunities of a generation and that the GTC has done nothing to help pupils or teachers by the sanctions they have imposed upon her.

Source: The Times 5 July 2007. p. 15.

'Despair' as Violence in Class soars

Teachers at The Educational Institute of Scotland's conference have warned of a rising tide of violence in classrooms across Scotland. A rising threat from 'gang culture' was also highlighted, where pupils routinely fought each other at weekends and then brought the violence into school during the week. Physical disruption, verbal abuse, defiance and non-cooperation are now said to be commonplace, even in primary schools.

The conference delegates unanimously voted for a call to the EIS council to update its advice on violent incidents in schools and for local authorities to provide better support for teachers who are the victims of violence once they return to school. Some pupils in schools are now wholly out of control and act in a violent manner towards their peers and their teachers.

Source:  Andrew Denholm. The Herald. Friday, 8 June 2007. p. 11.

End Secret Shame of Violence in Schools

The Scottish Conservatives, using Freedom of Information laws,  have uncovered the fact, hidden by the regime of ex-teacher Jack McConnell, that a 250% increase in attacks against teachers took place (2002 - 2006) under his regime. One response of the regime at the time was to only release the relevant data once every three years and to only sample a small number of teachers. Throughout Scotland a teacher is assaulted by a pupil once every twelve minutes. In 2002/03 6,899 teachers were assaulted.

Unions believe that many staff are afraid to report incidents because it may call into doubt their ability to control pupils. Victims have been urged to go directly to the police. In both Primary & Secondary schools punching, head butting and being hit with chairs are all on the increase.

Source: Derek Lambie. Sunday Express 3 June  2007. Pages 1, 8, 9 & 26.

The Welfare Reform Bill

This received Royal Assent at the beginning of May. The Welfare Reform Act 2007  will introduce, from next year, the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) which will replace Incapacity Benefit and Income Support based on incapacity or disability.

The Act will also introduce a new Personal Capability Assessment that will be used to assess ESA claimant’s entitlement to the benefit and any support that would be required to get them back into work. People who are deemed able to work will be required to attend Work-Focused Interviews and develop an action plan to help them get back to work.

Teachers call for Stress poll
A University of Edinburgh study has shown that 33 % of Secondary school teachers are so stressed that they require psychological counselling because of feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, etc. as well as showing the physical symptoms of stress.

The NASUWT union has called for research into primary school stress levels as a matter of urgency. The Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: 'Teacher stress is something we take seriously.'

Source: METRO. Friday, 18 May 2007 p. 22

WRS and Sickness Absences
The Confederation of British Industry estimates that sickness absences cost £13 billion per annum, with around 12% of these days being 'bogus'. Westminster Council introduced a new policy which involved face to face interviews with qualified counsellors and a twenty-four hour telephone helpline. The result was a fall in absences from an average of 10.5 days a year to one of just under 8 days a year. Absence is dealt with by the counsellors, freeing managers from this sometimes fraught area of employee relationships.

Source: Saturday Guardian 28 April 2007 p. 5

A Support Line for Scottish Teachers
With help from colleagues at Teacher Support Network, Teacher Support Scotland has designed a support service specifically to meet the needs of Scotland’s teaching force. The service incorporates the latest developments in technology and includes an online coaching service along with more than a thousand online factsheets covering all aspects of teachers’ wellbeing and effectiveness, including both their personal and working lives. At first this support will be available in three Local Authority areas and should be up and running within the next few months.

Date: April 2007

Stress: A Class Room 'Time Bomb'
More than 300 Scottish teachers are currently absent from their schools through stress, with experts predicting an escalation in sick leave through the work-related condition, a Sunday Herald investigation has found.
At least 337 teachers of all grades - from probationers to headteachers - are off work due to stress, depression and anxiety, with teaching unions and support groups claiming local authorities are not doing enough to protect staff from stress.

The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, also show that almost every local authority in Scotland has senior teaching staff - such as a head or deputy headteacher - absent because of stress. But there is a wide disparity between council areas, with 43 teachers absent in Glasgow, and just one teacher off sick in smaller areas such as Clackmannanshire and Inverclyde. Edinburgh City Council was unable to provide figures for its staff.

A spokesman for the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), Scotland's largest teaching union, said the figures are unsurprising in light of the workload facing teachers, classroom indiscipline and a lack of support in schools. "Stress is known to be one of the greatest risks to teachers' health," the spokesman said. "The pressures of dealing with large class sizes, over-heavy workload burdens, dealing with bad behaviour of pupils and violent incidents in school, and a lack of support - as well as poor management within the school - are some of the factors which can increase pressure on teachers and lead to absence through stress-related illnesses." The EIS is now urging employers to target the causes of stress rather than trying to deal with the after-effects.

Recent research by the University of Edinburgh shows that more than 90% of teachers think the profession is "quite" to "very stressful", with almost 25% reporting symptoms of stress including anxiety and depression. The study also found that 33% of secondary school teachers show the same symptoms as clinical psychology outpatients, citing feelings of hopelessness and worry, along with physical symptoms of dizziness or choking.

Mike Finlayson, of charity Teacher Support Scotland, said the new figures marry with concerns that the level of stress in teaching is increasing. "We are on the cusp of a major trend of absences related to stress, and we are lucky there are not more people off, to be honest," he said.  "In general, local authorities are not appointing specialist support for teachers. In fact, the Health and Safety Executive warned a number of local authorities last year that they are not sufficiently examining the risk of psychological illness in teaching staff, and councils should be looking at the risk of liability because of stress-related illnesses."

There has already been one landmark case in this area, with one teacher securing a £50,000 payout in 2005 because of work-related stress.  Finlayson pointed to research which shows that 40% of teachers who retire through ill-health do so because of depression or mental illness. "Most people can cope with a heavy workload so long as they are in control," he said. "But when you put a heavy workload on to teachers and remove the way they control their job, it can lead to a huge amount of stress."

SOME of these issues were supposed to be resolved by the £2 billion McCrone deal, introduced in 2001 to tackle long working hours in education. However, experts have claimed that since 2000, the average working week of a teacher has increased from 42 to 45 hours.  The McCrone deal came under fire again last week by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education which said it had not significantly improved standards.

Mike Finlayson also criticised an underlying "culture of presenteeism" in education. Despite the number of teachers off through stress-related illnesses, Finlayson said more may benefit from taking care of their health sooner rather than later. "Teachers are the people who turn up - they are compassionate and they feel guilty and uneasy when not in the classroom," he said. "Often they would be better to stop and take stock of their health and go back to work when at full strength.  "In addition, many of the health problems in the profession, such as heart disease, are stress related, and this is an ageing profession. There are a lot of problems storing up."

In spite of this, Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the figures. "To be honest, I would have thought it would have been much higher across the country - especially given the amount of publicity that stress and stress-related illnesses have had in the press," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said that the 337 teachers off sick due to stress represents less than 1% of the entire teaching population. She also pointed to initiatives aimed at reducing class sizes and cutting class contact time. She said: "We take the issue of teacher stress seriously and expect councils, as employers, to have effective policies to deal with stress and its potential consequences."

A spokesman for Cosla, the umbrella group for Scottish local authorities, said it was "understandable" that teachers suffered from stress. "Teachers are highly valued professionals, who have a very responsible job," he said. "It is understandable, therefore, that the pressure of modern teaching can on occasion lead to stress. "Local authorities take the health and wellbeing of all their employees seriously, and teachers have access to support if they need it."

One council taking active steps towards bolstering teacher morale and offering support to those who are struggling to cope is Inverclyde. The council, which has only one teacher off sick with stress at present, has employed a seconded teacher as a support worker to education staff, offering help on stress, bullying at work, occupational health, and individual advice to teachers and support workers.

Ian Fraser, corporate director of education and social care at Inverclyde Council, said this service has been "invaluable". He said: "We have wellbeing events for education staff, and our support worker also gets involved in seminars on domestic abuse and other integrating aspects so as to reduce stress." Fraser added that the authority has also tried to create "an atmosphere of positivity and confidence within education". There is also a strong union presence to support staff, he said. "Having high morale in our schools is terribly important," Fraser added. "And I would hope that helps to counter stress as well."

Source: Sunday Herald, February 2007 - By Jenifer Johnston

Stress in the Workplace
The Liverpool John Moores University is conducting a survey investigating Occupational Stress and Health.

The survey is completed anonymously, can be saved part way through and takes around 20 minutes to complete.

The following address will take you to the site: www.survey.ljmu.ac.uk/ljmuocc

Source: EIS Newsletter. Spring 2007.

Teacher Support Network - Violence and Disruption Survey 2007
So far 143 teachers have responded to the survey on violence and disruption in schools and of the 92 per cent that said they had experienced verbal abuse, 47 per cent said that this took the form of threats of violence.

This survey aims to revisit the issue of violence and disruption in schools last investigated by the Teacher Support Network in 2005. To date, results of this year's survey suggest an increase of 8 per cent in the number of respondents that have experienced verbal abuse.

If you have not participated in this survey, please take a moment to do so.

Work-Related Stress Survey results for Scotland
The Scottish Executive's survey has shown that the East Renfrewshire has the lowest number of staff absent due to WRS, followed by Inverclyde and then East Ayrshire. East Ayrshire has seven staff currently off work with WRS, whilst the worst local authority area was Glasgow with 43 staff currently off.

National figures support the view that Work-Related Stress in teaching is on the increase.

An EIS spokesman said that "The pressures of dealing with large class sizes, over-heavy workload burdens, dealing with bad behaviour of pupils and violent incidents in school, and a lack of support, as well as poor management within the school, are some of the factors that can increase pressure on teachers and lead to absence through work-related stress."

Source: The Kilmarnock Standard, 26 January 2007, P.27.

Twice as many teachers are retiring early
The number of teachers taking early retirement has almost doubled in seven years and many more are taking advantage of public pension packages and leaving before the official retirement age of 60. Many blame the work-related stresses of trying to teach in the face of poor pupil behaviour and repeated government initiatives. The Independent Sector does not reflect this increase and remains relatively unaffected.

The number of teachers retiring early rose from 5,580 in 1998/99 to 10,270 last year. The rate of early retirement in state secondary schools increased by 93 per cent, while independent schools had the lowest rate, with a rise of 33 per cent. The increase across state primary schools was 52 per cent.

Unions have indicated that a significant minority of staff taking early retirement are head teachers contributing to a growing crisis in recruiting school leaders. Last year, two headmasters in England made high-profile early resignations at union conferences, blaming government and Ofsted interference, resulting in  work-related stress. Only a third of head teachers actually go on to normal retirement age.

Source: Julie Henry, Education Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph, 14 January 2007

Violence and disruption survey
The Teacher Support Network’s 2005 survey on violence and disruption in schools showed that 84 per cent of teachers had been verbally abused, 29 per cent had been physically assaulted and 38 per cent had had their property vandalised.

A Curriculum for Excellence can only be successfully delivered if teachers are fully equipped with the knowledge, expertise and commitment to help all children and young people realise their full potential. The associated  forum - www.teachersforexcellence.co.uk allows teachers to make their views known on any topic which impinges upon the standard of teaching and learning in Scotland. The Scottish Minister for Education will post responses to questions and views from 12 January.

Source: The Kilmarnock Standard, 5 January 2007. P.3.

Mental Health Stigmas
The WellScotland website www.wellscotland.info has developed a special online test to help diagnose stress and other mental health issues.

Source: The Kilmarnock Standard, 5 January 2007. P.14.

Teacher Well-being: Looking After Yourself and Your Career in the Classroom (Paperback)
by Elizabeth Holmes (Author) "There can be few teachers who do not have a solid understanding of what negative stress means, born of genuine felt experience ..."

This book is available through the Teacher Support Network site and  Amazon.

The book has a number of case studies relating to negative stress and discusses the new idea of the protection of teachers from the high levels of stress that the profession now inevitably faces.

School Boards to be disbanded from 31 July 2007

The 'Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006' will mean that in future parents' involvement will only be through the 'Parent Forum'  which all parents with a child at school will automatically be a member of.  One way for the Parent Forum to express its views will be through a 'Parent Council' which is a group of parents selected by the forum.  It must have a constitution and can take many different forms.

The job of the Parent Council will be to support the school in its work with pupils, represent parents views, encourage links between the school, parents, pupils, pre-school groups and the wider community and finally to report back to the Parent Forum.

The new arrangements do not directly guarantee the 'School Board' replacement with any powers and the direct involvement with the appointment of the Senior Management Team at schools may be removed.  Parents may no longer have a direct say on an appointment panel on the choice of the Senior Managers at their school.  This matter is still open to a consultation process via the 'parentszone' website.

School issues such as Work-related Stress, homework, new technology, bullying, etc. can be discussed by the new body.

Source: www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk

Incapacity Benefit (Ill Health retirement)

This is the term that will replace 'Ill Health Retirement' from 1 April 2007.  It should not be confused with the Incapacity Benefit payments which are made through the Job Centre during an absence from work due to ill health which extends beyond six months.

Two levels of ill health retirement will be introduced, the first being 'Total Incapacity Benefit (TIB)' which will be granted to teachers whose illness is such that they are permanently unable to teach or to carry out another job of similar 'weight'.  The second level will be 'Partial Incapacity Benefit (PIB)' which will be granted to teachers who are incapable of teaching, but who are capable of a range of other work of similar job 'weight' to teaching.

The medical grounds will be judged in much the same manner as at present.  TIB provides for enhancement of service to 50% of the service which would remain to normal retirement age, whilst PIB will receive no enhancement and the pension payable will be based solely on the reckonable service at the time of retirement only.

Source: SSTA Website

Is teaching the most stressful job?

An analysis of calls to the Teacher Support Line showed that 1 in 15 called for help in 2005.  A study - The scale of occupational stress  - found that 20% of people reported high levels of stress at work.  Teachers topped this league table with 41% reporting high levels of work-related stress.  Nursing came in second at 31% and then "managers" at 27%.  Reported stress increased with earnings and the level of educational qualifications.

Teachers and nurses are particularly vulnerable because they work in highly structured, hierarchical workplaces with exceptional levels of face-to-face contact with the public and high levels of accountability.

Pupil behaviour is a major problem as confirmed by those who work in schools, but are not teachers; a regular comment being that they could not live with the levels of abuse that teachers are expected to tolerate.  This is a major cause of teachers leaving the profession.

The biggest single 'cry for help' came from those who were in conflict with managers, colleagues or parents.  At least these factors are within the scope of the school to 'sort out', whilst pupil behaviour is in many ways a reflection of our society and the decline in respect for authority.

Source: BBC News | Education | Mike Baker

Young pupils abuse teachers with sexual swear words

Children as young as five are consistently swearing at teachers, with nearly 20% of primary school teachers claiming to have been subjected to sexually abusive sexual insults. The survey commissioned by the NUT also showed that 75% of secondary school pupils used the 'F' word and worse when speaking to each other. According to teachers the parents of these pupils are refusing to help by setting a good example. Although teachers are protected by the Sex Discrimination Act, many schools do not see it as a priority. A spokesman at the Department of Education and Skills said that "There is no place for bad language in schools, and we are taking a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of disruptive or insolent behaviour. Equally, parents have  a responsibility to support schools in tackling any misbehaviour from their child."

Source: The Times, Friday, 24 November 2006.

Teach us how to restrain pupils

The Association of Headteachers and Deputies in Scotland (AHDS) has called for staff to be trained in physical and other techniques to resolve classroom conflicts as a result of growing concern over assaults on staff and pupils at schools in Scotland.

Staff need to know how to restrain and how far they can go. However, it was felt that compulsory training for all staff might lead to Local Authorities passing on responsibility for dealing with violent pupils to schools. Growing difficulties with the policy of social inclusion were highlighted and it was suggested by the outgoing president of the AHDS that the largest union, the EIS, is not doing enough to help resolve these difficulties.

Source: The Herald, Friday, 3 November, 2006.

Beating Stress

Dorota Owens, writing in the Autumn 2006 issue of the GTC's Teaching Scotland, emphasises the importance of self-reflection as a tool to prevent serious Work-related Stress from developing.

Stress management is about taking time out and paying attention to what a high degree of unrelenting stress is trying to tell individuals. A number of CPD courses are being set up to combat the stress that is an every day part of a teacher's life and taking advantage of these will help teachers reconnect with their own life purpose, help them relax and enable them to recharge their teaching batteries.

The full article is to be found on page 18 of Teaching Scotland, Autumn 2006.

The Teachers Health and Wellbeing Study Scotland (2004)

This report was produced by the 'Healthy Working Lives Group' from Glasgow University, supported by 'Teacher Support Scotland' and others.

Amongst the key stress findings were that 44% of teachers found their job to be 'very' or 'extremely stressful' and that poor personal health was a direct consequence. However, 64% reported that non work-related stress was an important factor, critical in fact when things were also going badly at work. The three roughly equal stressors were firstly pupil indiscipline, then relationships with colleagues, headteachers, parents, governors and inspectors and finally paperwork. Personal stress levels were accentuated in line with length of service and 90% of staff felt that stress levels had increased over the last five years. Teacher retention suffers significantly from these factors and is worse where collegiality is not working properly and staff consequently feel unappreciated as they are not involved in decision making.

Health as measured by sickness absence is good compared with other Public Sector Workers. However, 41% of staff reported medical conditions, ranked from musculoskeletal at 26%, through cardiovascular 18%, mental and respiratory at 12%, and finally neurological at 8%. Staff who teach in 'deprived' areas unsurprisingly reported more ill health.

Support for teachers is generally inadequate, with 98% of staff never having used local authority support services even where they do exist. Most staff cannot not self-refer and services where they do exist are often fragmented, not comprehensive and are inadequately resourced. Staff have concerns about the access to confidentiality and use of information derived from local authority occupational health services. Approachable headteachers who pursue a collegial approach to management were seen as significant de-stressors. Ideas such as annual health reviews, phone and web-based supports and InSeT were welcomed. Good research on health support systems and effectiveness are lacking, however the teacher support line and multi-level Wellbeing Projects in England have had some positive qualitative feedback.

Recommendations are that support is standardised across Scotland, with minimum standards set, backed up by a quality assurance system. Issue-specific interventions should be addressed to tackle the three main stressors and data on the usage, value and efficacy of support services should be regularly published. Personalised health plans should be considered, health promotion programmes should be targeted at teachers and mutual support approaches amongst staff developed. More research on the whole area of teacher health should be carried out.

The Health and Safety Executive guidance on risk assessment and work related stress should be used to develop a strategic workplace health plan, working together with the all encompassing 'Healthy Working Lives' strategy and fully addressing Scottish teachers' health and well-being related issues.

Police let me down, says attack case head

After a nine-month ordeal a Depute Headteacher from Glasgow has been cleared of assaulting an unruly child. It emerged that the pupil had been suspended six times for attacks on fellow pupils and had punched and swore at the teacher concerned. The pupil was under close supervision at the time to prevent further assaults. The Depute Head called for more protection for teachers in the classroom and was "very bitter" about the way he had been treated and commented that  "There are few other forums where someone can attempt to assault people and then bring charges against them. It seems that any child who wants to can accuse a teacher of anything."

Source: Stuart McDonald, Daily Mail, 16 September, 2006

Assaults against teachers

The Scottish Conservatives have had to use the Freedom of Information Act to show that physical assaults against teachers in Scotland increased by 25% in a year. The number actually reported increased from 2,224 in 2004-05 to 2,768 in 2005-06.

The Scottish Executive no longer publish statistics on school violence, despite 1,938 incidents of recorded verbal abuse and the total number of physical, verbal and attacks on school property increasing from 5,390 to 6,175, a rise of 14% in one year.

Source: The Times, 8 September, 2006

Breakneck pace of modern life

The number of employees citing work-related stress and depression has doubled in a decade, the number now reaching more than one million.

A new survey of 5,000 people, commissioned by Legal and General, shows that the main worries in peoples lives are not diet, smoking and drinking, but about being unable to unwind, get enough sleep and how to survive the 24-hour society we now live in. Some 50% did not have time to get adequate exercise and 42% did not get enough sleep, whilst general fatigue concerned 34% of those participating.

Teacher wins case recognising work-related stress

A female teacher who lost out on a promoted post to a male colleague has won a discrimination case against her employer. She was awarded £16,000, including £5,000 in recognition of the Work-related Stress that arose as a result of the discrimination and which then resulted in her resignation. The recognition of the stress caused by such a  situation has set a clear precedent.

Health research highlights stress

Research carried out for National Men's Health week in 2006 shows that half of all men suffer from moderate or extreme stress in a normal week and millions of those who are worst affected do not seek help because of the social stigma attached to psychological injury.

1 in 5 men feel down, depressed or anxious every day or a few times a week and two thirds have suffered from depression or anxiety, but had done the macho thing and had not sought help.

The most common cause of anxiety and depression was unequivocally work (48%), followed by money (44%), then pace of living (27%) and finally relationships (25%).

High income does not necessarily bring pleasure, with 10% attending counselling or therapy. The most popular ways of dealing with stress are exercise (33%), taking a break (33%) and getting to bed early (31%).