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Bottom of the class for sick days
Pamela Welsh24/ 4/2008
TEACHERS in Salford have been sent to the back of the class after taking more days off sick last year than the national average.
Staff at Salford schools took an average of 5.5 sick days last year - over the national average of 5.3.
New figures show that Salford had one of the best averages across Greater Manchester - teachers in Manchester took 10.3 sick days, and in Bury, the average was 7.4 days.
The Greater Manchester authorities with better than the national average were Oldham (4), Wigan, (3.7), Trafford (3.3) and Bolton (3).
Across Greater Manchester, the bill for supply staff to cover for absence was £28m last year.
One national supply agency said it has to cover 1,300 teaching days each week across the region. Teachers, some of whom are striking on Thursday for better conditions, blame workloads and longer hours for the rising levels of sickness.
But the figures do not show the true cost of sickness as many schools have their own in-house cover, using teaching assistants and other staff to cover missed classes.
Teachers’ groups said that high absence rates represented the fact that many staff were on long-term sick leave.
Lesley Auger, Salford secretary of the National Union of Teachers, insisted staff were not shirking their duties but were absent because of the responsibility and high stress levels linked to the job.
She said: "Greater Manchester is a poor region - there are problems relating to poverty and deprivation in schools. There are a lot of disaffected children, which contributes to teachers becoming ill.
"We should have a system where there is no financial burden to get in supply."
Studies had proven that teachers in more challenging urban areas were more likely to suffer from illness, she added.
Councillor John Warmisham, lead member for children's services in Salford, said: "There's a number of reasons when teachers have to have time off - they are only human and are susceptible to the same colds and flus as the rest of us.
"Some teachers may suffer from stress because historically it is a stressful profession, but I don't think it's anything to be alarmed about."
Teaching routinely features in the list of most stressful professions, according to a study by the Health and Safety Executive.
Most recent 2 of 2 user comments
Mark in Canada
24/04/2008 at 16:10
Got an opinion you want to share?Should less emphasis be placed on the results of tests and more emphasis on general education for children?
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Bet if you had a job like that, you would be off sick too !!!!
Give the Teachers more power to run their classrooms like they used to do and get the Parents of pupils to instill good manners and behaviour into their kids !!!!
28/04/2008 at 01:30