The education sector has a major staffing crisis. Workload, admin, and stress levels are rising, mental health is deteriorating, pay is generally inadequate, and in some cases budget pressures means that the availability of support staff, including teaching assistants, is under threat. This nexus of forces is creating an alarming inflection point that is affecting budgets, quality of teaching, talent attraction and retention, and importantly the health and wellbeing of the whole education sector. Measures to improve workplace health and wellbeing are urgently needed.
Staff shortages in the UK are at an unprecedented scale. About 66.2 percent of England’s teaching workforce were off school because of illness last year, according to the Department for Education’s (DfE) school workforce statistics. Analysis has found that around 14,000 teachers in England called in sick every day last year. The data show that about 2.5 million school days were lost in 2022-23 as more than 326,000 teachers missed class owing to sickness. In fact, every teacher that took sick leave reported an average of eight days of absence last year. This equates to almost 13,700 teachers calling in sick on any given day during the 190-day school year.
Missed teaching time
This is having a huge impact on the continuity of learning. Overall, 7.8 million school days have been lost to sickness since in-person teaching resumed following the pandemic, according to analysis of DfE data by the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Compared with the 2018-19 academic year – the year before the pandemic – an extra 461,500 teaching days were lost last year because of staff illness.
Rising stress levels
The challenges don’t end there. Unmanageable workloads, time-consuming administrative tasks and stress in the lead up to Ofsted inspections as major contributors to poor wellbeing according to a 2019 Ofsted report about schools and further education (FE). The report also cites a varying level of support available to teaching staff. Just over half (57 percent) of respondents in FE said their line manager frequently gives praise and recognition, and only 36 percent said their line manager often or always supports them with their wellbeing.
Taking care of talent
The issue of employee wellbeing in the education sector will not be a short-term problem. Left unattended it will have a far-reaching impact on the ability for schools and colleges to recruit and hold onto valuable people talent.
With of 87% of employees considering health and wellness packages when choosing an employer, a culture of wellbeing in the education sector is vital to attracting and retaining top teaching talent.
Livi is working with several schools and colleges in the UK partnering with them to offer on demand GP appointments as part of a flexible wellbeing package to deliver outstanding care to boost health and happiness.
The ‘on-demand’ GP service offers:
Convenient, same-day access to GP appointments by video
Round the clock care, 365 days a year with GPs covering a wide range of health concerns from minor infections to complex conditions
Extensive opening hours: Mon-Fri 7am-10pm, Sat-Sun 9am-4pm
Instant prescriptions sent to a preferred pharmacy straight after the consultation
Patients rate our digital platform 4.9 out of 5
Staff attraction and retention
With early intervention and less time away from the classroom to attend in-person appointments, employees can manage work-life balance and schools, colleges, nurseries and universities across the UK benefit from reduced staff absences, learning continuity and feel empowered to do their job well.
A 2023 DfE survey found that over 40,000 educators left state schools before retirement in 2022. That’s a worrying 10 percent of the workforce. The situation is no better in further education. The latest DfE data shows that over 50 percent of educators in 2015 were no longer teaching after 5 years, and 4 in 10 say they are likely to leave the profession within the next 12 months.
Showing you truly care about life beyond the office, promotes a positive working environment and workforce engagement. And by helping employees prioritise their health and wellbeing, they can flourish at work, in turn enhancing job satisfaction.
