Thousands of teachers in Scotland 'feel stressed regularly or constantly'

A majority of teachers surveyed by Scotland's largest teaching union say they feel stressed "frequently" or "all of the time".

The EIS spoke to more than 12,000 teachers over a two-week period in December and asked a range of questions regarding working conditions in the profession.

More than three-quarters (76%) responded that they felt stressed within their jobs on either a regular or constant basis, while 88% said they felt their stress levels had either stayed the same or increased over the past year.

In a question asking which aspect of work gave teachers the greatest amount of stress over the past year, 61% of respondents cited workload, while 52% attributed it to a combination of paperwork, admin and bureaucracy.

An overall 82% of respondents recorded they feel dissatisfied with their level of workload.

More than 78% of the teachers who responded said they disagreed there was adequate provision for children with additional support needs (ASN) in their school.

Asked what issues they would to be raise with the Scottish Government by EIS, the top three responses were pay, workload and ensuring appropriate resources/capacity and funding to deliver ASN.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: "It is no surprise that dissatisfaction over levels of pay ranked highest on the list of concerns that teachers want to see addressed.

"However, frustration over high levels of workload and concerns over levels of provision for pupils with Additional Support Needs also ranked very high in the survey results.

"Our main campaigning focus for the past year has been aimed at securing a significant pay increase for Scotland's teachers and association professionals.

"However, the results of this survey indicate very clearly that, while pay remains the top priority, teachers are concerned about other issues also.

"Pay will be the main focus of our Value Education, Value Teachers campaign, until we secure an increase acceptable to our members.

"Once this element of the campaign is settled, however, we will refocus our campaign objectives on to the other key areas of concern identified by Scotland's teachers.''

He added: "Both excessive levels of workload and concern over levels of provision for pupils with ASN are significant issues that teachers want to see addressed.

"There have been numerous initiatives aimed at reducing excessive levels of workload in teaching in recent years.

"Clearly, our members feel that these measures have not been successful in reducing workload to an acceptable level.

"Budget-driven cuts to ASN provision and staffing during the period of austerity have placed huge additional pressures on teachers and, even more worryingly, reduced the level of support available for pupils who need it.

"The EIS will be raising these matters directly with local authorities and the Scottish Government."