In 2018 the Education Support Partnership charity (EPS) revealed that 31% of teachers in the UK have experienced a mental health problem. Furthermore, according to the Health and Safety Executive, teaching is among the top five occupations affected by work-related stress, with 70% of teachers saying their health has suffered because of their job.

You could argue that many modern careers are stressful, but a YouGov survey in 2018 found that 75% of teachers in the UK reported symptoms of stress, including depression, anxiety and panic attacks – compared with just 62% of the entire working population as a whole.

When the cold hard facts point to a working environment that is damaging teachers health and wellbeing, we have to consider how these wider impacts not only begin to affect the individual teacher but cause a ripple effect within a school and those who are in the learning environment.

Quality cannot come from stress

Can we expect quality learning outcomes when a teacher is stressed?

We certainly wouldn’t expect great outcomes from any other profession when stress is present, for example, a surgeon about to do heart surgery. But teachers are continuously put into a situation where they are expected to meet targets, leagues tables and generate positive exam results. All of this and the pressures of creating an engaging learning experience.

When stress is present in the body there is an increase in adrenaline and cortisol, chemicals that produce that fight or flight response. This means the heart rate increases, blood pressure rises and physical symptoms such as headaches and nausea can manifest.

With symptoms such as this, teachers can become more easily agitated, forgetful, less tolerant, quick to judge and of course feel fatigued and run down.

Now place yourself in front of a class of thirty pupils, and this stress can ripple out unconsciously towards students. Meaning teachers are less patient, not focussed on the questions students might be asking, and even unaware of student wellbeing.

Few other professions have such pressures, especially as teachers are constantly exposed to a barrage of emotional stress from students.

When stress and poor mental wellbeing bleeds into the learning environment, we can expect poor behaviour from students, disengaged learning and ultimately poor learning outcomes.

As any teacher will know, this is not what they want for themselves or their students.

Teaching is a vocation, a role that provides great purpose to many. But this will no longer be the view if teaching continues to see passionate teachers crushed by stress.

Creativity is stunted

To provide a positive and exciting learning environment where students are engaged in the topic, creativity has to be present in teachers. The trouble is, a stressed and ill teacher can have a mind so disconnected and full of negative thoughts that the energy to be creative is simply not available to them.

With little head space to think ahead or imagine new ideas, teaching itself can begin to become a chore rather than a passion.

When creativity is stunted in the mind of a teacher, it becomes stunted in the classroom and then non-existent in the mind of students.

Relationships are pushed

It’s estimated the average working hours for a teacher is 60-hours per week, and despite this commitment to their role many still feel they don’t do enough. With low self-esteem comes low morale and every relationship can begin to become affected.

The primary relationship with students is the most common to be impacted, as when teachers are out of balance they resort to shouting as a means of communication. Losing both productivity, respect, and control of the class.

As any teacher is aware, relationships with students are key to engaged learning, but with stress ever present there is no space for rapport building or healthy interactions.

Beyond the classroom, colleague interactions can also be rife with friction. As a melting pot of emotions, stress, and illness consume almost everyone in the teaching staff, meetings are unproductive, ego runs rampant and support wavers.

When a team of teachers is struggling to be aware and present because their mental wellbeing is poor the results are toxic on the environment and the students.

Lives are at risk

Aside from the ripple effects of mental wellbeing on the educational environment, we mustn’t forget that poor mental wellbeing is putting lives at risk.

At present, the suicide rate among primary school teachers in the UK is almost two times higher than the national average. In 2017 there were 139 suicides among teaching professionals, and 73% of these were recorded as primary school teachers.

It’s a stark reminder that we must begin to make mental wellbeing a priority in the education system.

When a student feels emotionally stressed, they are often given the option of taking a break or leaving the classroom to cool off. But a teacher does not have the opportunity to do this.

Despite the situation teachers are required to stay in charge, take the higher ground and rise above it. However, as many will know, this is incredibly draining both emotionally and mentally. Which means, left unaddressed, this build up of stress will produce deadly outcomes.