Back in November, Education Support published its annual Teacher Wellbeing Index report and for us here at HCS - and for you, we’re sure - the results were hardly surprising. 

• 78% of school staff are stressed – rising to 82% for teachers and 89% for senior leaders.
• 39% of school staff have experienced a mental health issue in the past academic year – 41% of teachers and 37% of senior leaders.
• 35% say these were symptoms of burnout.
• Staff wellbeing score is 43.65 using the Warwick Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) – lower than the national population scores and the lowest recorded since 2019.

They’re hardly surprising because teacher wellbeing seems to have been this way for as long as anyone can remember. It’s also unsurprising for you because it’s you who’s living the job day in and day out. You are the statistics. It’s not a case of reading them from an outsider’s perspective and thinking, “Wow, that’s terrible!” And then going on your merry way…

When you wake up stressed and anxious, there’s no escaping it. If you’ve even slept at all. As someone who’s lain awake in bed at night and wondered how on earth they would get through the day ahead, I hear you. I see you. 

Back in 2015, when I could no longer face getting out of said bed and dragged myself to the doctor’s office instead, I was someone I barely recognised. Heart palpitations, uncontrollable crying, lack of sleep? Check, check, check. Hoping I’d wake up ill so I’d have a ‘legitimate’ reason not to go in? Also, check. 

It’s no way to live. And once I’d been signed off, I decided to stop living this way. As I said to my then-wonderful headteacher, “I don’t want to be medicated to do my job.”

Actually, scrap that. I refused to be medicated to go to work.

Perhaps you recognise some of this in your own life? Or at least know someone who is living a similar experience?

Frustratingly, the government still doesn't get it. They live in this misguided world where they think piling on the pressure through a seriously damaged system is the way forward. Talk about sticking their head in the sand and hoping it will blow over. 

The role Ofsted plays in the teacher wellbeing mess

As much as workload, tricky parents and challenging pupil behaviour play their part in the stress levels you endure, there’s no denying that the relentless pressure from Ofsted is also a key factor. When I was a deputy, the headteacher and I were so aware of the damage the word ‘Ofsted’ could do to staff morale that we actively tried to avoid saying it too often.

But when an inspection is looming, how can you avoid talking about it?

And this is where the system is truly broken. In the recent Beyond Ofsted Enquiry report, the following stats came to light:

• 73% of staff think inspections are unfit for purpose.
• 73% of staff say inspections do not improve learner achievement.
• 71% of staff say inspections negatively impact their mental health and wellbeing.
• 64% of staff feel inspections do not deliver reliable judgements.

As to whether the system is working or not, surely the people doing the job are the most reliable source of information? And yet the government (and Amanda Spielman in particular) still claim to know best and deny there’s anything wrong. 

In fact, on a recent episode of Woman’s Hour, Ms Spielman had plenty to say about Ofsted and teacher wellbeing. During the conversation, she claimed that the anxiety and pressure the profession feels about inspections is created ‘in the system’ and not by Ofsted. That the school sector simply doesn’t want to be held accountable. Please!

Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks this is a ridiculous sentiment. In a brilliant letter to Ofsted’s chief inspector, the former headteacher-turned-leadership-coach, Sarah Hussey, said that teachers and school leaders ‘feel the pressure because we care!’ And I think she’s hit the nail on the head. 

Most of us come into this profession because we care. We want to do our best for the kids in our classrooms. We want to make a difference in their lives and help them reach their potential. Okay, that might sound like something you see on one of those w*nky TV teacher recruitment adverts, but I think there’s a truth to it. 

And it’s because of this innate ability to care that constantly being scrutinised comes at such a cost to our mental health and wellbeing. Forever being made to feel that we’re not meeting the bar set by people who’ve never set foot in a classroom just adds insult to injury. And when we eventually scrape the bar with our fingertips? It’s moved yet again, and we’re back to straining once more. 

We’re Sisyphus, constantly rolling the teaching boulder to the top of the hill, only to see it topple back down again. And unless we get out, as for Sisyphus, it’s an eternal journey.

So what’s next?

I wish I could promise that change is coming. That reform is on the way to make things better for you over the coming weeks, months, and years. 

But I can’t make that promise. Because change starts at the top and when no one is willing to do the right thing, to get rid of an outdated system and embrace a new way of thinking, things will stay the same. It feels like the profession is in limbo, floating around like a discombobulated jellyfish, while people like Amanda Spielman live in some ‘parallel universe’ - as Sarah Hussey so brilliantly put it.

For now, and until Hussey becomes the next chief inspector (how amazing would that be?), the only way you can manage your wellbeing is to find strategies that work for you, both on an individual and school level. Strategies such as:

• Firm boundaries and having the courage to stick by them.
• Our FLIP-it Thinking toolkit to help you when you want to change the way you think and feel about a situation.
• Small (atomic?) wellbeing practices that are manageable and meaningful to you and your school. 
• Find schools that are doing it well and talk to them. If you’re a school leader, talk to others and seek advice. We’re all in this together, after all. 

If you want support with teacher wellbeing strategies that can help your school team, contact our Doug - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - and he’ll give you all the info you need.

Steph Caswell started out life as a primary school teacher, reaching the dizzy heights of deputy headship before turning her hand to writing. She’s the author of six books, and when not writing witty, opinionated content for Laughology, she supports other aspiring authors to write theirs.