How many teachers are off on long term sick? How many of those are due to stress and depression? How many miss short periods of work due to these reasons? How many of them are working, through fear of what may happen to them, when they should be off sick? I guarantee that a health survey of staff across the country that includes questions about this will show there is a much higher percentage of this happening in teaching.
What are some other careers that potentially carry the same amount of risk to your mental health? Working in the army carries a high risk of developing post traumatic stress, for example. Have our schools become as psychologically disturbing as a war zone?
Is this just a sign that teaching is a career only for the thick skinned and the steel minded, and there are too many people going into it who just don’t have what it takes? No. I’m not talking about people who are struggling with the work – in many cases illness starts in once highly skilled and capable professionals. It obviously is for them, under the right conditions, so why not provide those conditions?
I know that in certain cases, teachers who have become mentally ill as a result of the working conditions they have been put into are encouraged to treat their illness as a workplace injury, and to claim compensation in the usual manner.
Teaching is no doubt bad for your health. A similar activity would come with a warning, and a more robust support system.
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