Wellbeing must be at the heart of education recovery

The wellbeing of pupils and teachers cannot be written off as collateral damage from the pandemic, but must be put at the heart of our schools’ agenda, representatives at the Annual Conference of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union have argued today.

91% of teachers who responded to a recent NASUWT survey say their job has adversely affected their mental health.

The rapid dependence on remote learning, compounding already high workloads, was a leading contributor to adverse mental health for 72% of teachers surveyed.

Schools are failing to promote workplace wellbeing for their staff, with 78% of teachers expressing they feel inadequately supported.

Wellbeing and mental health must no longer be an afterthought, but be a priority embedded into our education system, the Conference, being held in Birmingham, has heard.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“The pandemic has strained us all, but teachers and their students have been tested with unimaginable pressures over the last two years.

“Whilst the country stayed home, teachers braved the frontline of the Covid pandemic to deliver education for our children and young people.

“But soldiering on against the odds is not a sustainable model that encourages healthy workplace practices, nor does it support teachers to perform at their best. As a result, we are witnessing high prevalence of burnout amongst the school workforce.

“To achieve the Government’s ambitions for a world-class education system, political leaders must make our schools a world-class workplace.

“That starts by embedding the promotion of good wellbeing and mental health into the foundations of our school system.”