NEU teaching conference begins in North Yorkshire
Teachers from across the country will arrive for the four day event
Teaches from across the Country are in Harrogate today for the National Education Union's annual conference.
It is being held at the international centre over the next four days.
Ahead of the conference the NEU has released its latest survey of over 14,000 teachers in English state schools about their personal experiences with stress in the workplace and their ability, or otherwise, to balance the demands of work with their personal lives.
It found:
• Teachers feel stressed at work a majority of the time. Almost two thirds (62 per cent) believe that stress affects them more than 60 per cent of the time.
• This higher level of stress is more common among female respondents to the survey (65 per cent compared to 54 per cent among males) and is particularly strongly felt by teachers working in primary schools and nurseries (65 per cent).
• Although stress significantly affects all age groups, younger teachers feel the pressure most of all. 65 per cent of those aged in their twenties or thirties reported feeling stressed at work more than 60 per cent of the time.
• Three quarters (75 per cent) of teacher respondents said they frequently find themselves ‘unable’ to switch-off from work-related thoughts and tasks when at home. 41 per cent said this was ‘always’ the case.
• Teachers say it is commonplace for them to work evenings (62 per cent), weekends (55 per cent), and a third of respondents frequently cancel plans with family and friends in order to get on top of their workload (36 per cent).
The NEU says it is calling for action to tackle workload, increase funding for schools and improve pay.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Teachers have no hesitation in doing their utmost for pupils. It is a vocation and a profession that takes pride in delivering the best for young people. But we have to face up to the immense toll this takes on teachers every day.
“It cannot be right that we have a working culture which invades every aspect of a teacher’s life. The government’s own figures show that working hours are out of hand and they are getting worse.
“Leaders are forced to stretch staff ever more and the persistent problems with recruitment and retention compound the problem. Our members are working long hours in the knowledge there is no army of new colleagues riding to the rescue.
“Underfunding of schools and colleges is at the heart of the problem, but so is the undervaluing of teachers and support staff. We need to see a major pay correction not only to attract more into the profession, but also to keep them. It is short-sighted of any government to continue to ignore the root-and-branch solutions that are so obviously needed.”