Six out of ten headteachers have admitted to considering changing their jobs due to increased stress levels.
According to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), more school leaders are contemplating quitting the profession than ever before, while “fewer and less” middle leaders are looking for a job as they realize how difficult it can be. They are voting members on strike action with a deadline of 11 Jan, but a spokesperson stated that school closures would still be an option.
Scottish teachers went on strike last month, and there are more days planned for the coming weeks.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, said to the Observer that “the anger and even despair that we are hearing right now from our members is unprecedented.” I am hearing from school leaders that they can’t continue to manage their schools under the current conditions.
Education Support published an annual survey on the wellbeing of school staff in England and Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland before Christmas. It found that 87% of senior leaders had suffered from poor mental health due to their work. 58% of them had actively tried to leave or change their jobs in the last year.
The Observer shared the resignation letter that the head of a Cumbria state school shared with her board of governors. The letter starts, “The past two and a quarter years have been some of the most difficult I have ever experienced,” The experience almost broke me and the situation doesn‘t seem to be improving.
She stated that she is exhausted by the ongoing battles resulting from 10 years of cuts in school funding and “relentless reductions” to other public services meant to help children and families.
The letter ended with the following: “I don‘t want to work in a government that is so out-of-touch with reality and treats our children and my profession with such contempt.”
Catherine Barker, the headteacher (not her real title) had to pull over because she became ill while driving her son to university. Her blood pressure was rising because of the pressure of managing a primary school that was struggling to pay its bills. She was often suffering from migraines every day.
Barker has enormous energy bills at her school in Fenlands and doesn’t know how to pay them. Barker holds car boot sales to purchase phonics books. She feels guilty, however, because she is raising money from really poor families.
One of the classrooms‘ windows shakes, and the boiler should be replaced two years ago. She is still trying to figure out who to replace to pay the deficit, despite having to cover some lessons.
She says that many of her parents are in dire straits and are asking us why we don‘t help them with food as much as we did during the pandemic. “The food parcels that we give are more expensive than the ones we buy. I don’t know how we will continue to offer free breakfasts for hungry children.
Barker describes herself a passionate headteacher and her school was awarded a “good” rating in a recent Ofsted inspection. She has resigned because she is unable to handle the stress. She accepted a lower pay and has been offered a position as a teacher in a school closer to her home.
She will not be responsible anymore, but she has no doubt that she will continue to teach at her school.
Barker states, “I’m going into a school that has the same financial and social pressures.” “They had Ofsted this Spring, and the head fell in front of the inspector as she was so stressed that she hadn’t slept or eaten in the morning.”
Brookside Academy’s headteacher, Brian Walton, in Street, Somerset, believes that running a school is “the most rewarding job in the world“. However, he intends to resign this academic year as he feels “the entire system is broken”. He says, “I have been a headteacher for twenty years and I have never seen anything like it.”
Walton is currently a student at a large primary school with an attached special school. He is also struggling to find teachers and support staff. But what is most overwhelming to Walton is the task of dealing with social issues that schools now have to handle on their own.
He says, “When services that are supposed deal with crime, mental health, and social care aren‘t functioning, it is the schools who end up at the frontline.” “Families don’t know where they can turn for help,” he said.
He claims he’s never seen so many families depend on food banks. “People are dealing with anxiety and mental problems. School behavior problems are becoming more serious.
Sinead McBrearty is the chief executive of Education Support. The charity surveyed school leaders about their mental health and found that they are at high risk for heart attacks and strokes. They ask: “Do I choose my job or my health ?
She said that heads who should be focusing their attention on education end up trying stand-in mental health professionals or social workers because it is impossible to ignore the suffering of those who come knocking on your door every day.
Andrew Morrish, an ex-headteacher, created a Headrest helpline for struggling headteachers during a pandemic. He said: “The only thing we have ever had is that there is no goodwill remaining in the system.”
He claims that heads are “losing their heads” because of problems such as angry parents. This is something he believes they would have done three years ago.
They often cry in voicemails. They act as sponges, soaking up all the problems of others. All they need is to be heard.
The Department for Education spokesperson stated that next year’s government’s additional investment in schools will be “the largest real-terms expenditure in history, totalling PS58.8bn in 2024/25″.