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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE





Research reveals worrying picture on teacher wellbeing



The NASUWT has recently published a number of new reports based on the views and experiences of NASUWT members, which demonstrate that teacher wellbeing is being seriously compromised in some schools. The reports on excessive classroom temperatures, workplace bullying and supply teachers demonstrate that teacher’s rights and entitlements are all too often being ignored and undermined.



Teachers and pupils forced to swelter in hot classrooms



The quality of teaching and learning is suffering as teachers and pupils are forced to work and learn in classrooms which are excessively hot.



New NASUWT research confirms that excessive classroom temperatures remain a major problem for teachers, with over 75% of respondents stating that they regularly experienced classroom temperatures in excess of 24° and a third of respondents experiencing temperatures over 30° at some point last summer. The World Health Organisation (WHO) sets a maximum of 24° at which people can work in comfort.



The NASUWT has been campaigning for a legal maximum workplace temperature for many years, arguing that an absence of a legal limit puts the wellbeing of pupils and teachers at risk and compromises effective teaching and learning.



Around half of teachers surveyed said that the quality of teaching and learning was compromised once the temperature rose above 24°.



The Union has called on the Government to strengthen regulations around classroom temperatures and ventilation and is continuing to press the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on this issue.



While the survey illustrates the scale of the problem, NASUWT General Secretary Chris Keates has warned that the Coalition Government’s attack on heath and safety and its abolition of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme means that these issues are unlikely to be addressed.



“Teachers are facing serious health and safety risks in schools as a result of high levels of stress, outdated school buildings, the presence of asbestos and excessive classroom temperatures,” Ms Keates said.



“This survey starkly illustrates the regressive impact on the health and welfare of pupils and staff that will result from the Government’s plans to tear up health and safety protections in our schools.”



Visit www.nasuwt.org.uk/ExcessiveTemperaturesReport and www.nasuwt.org.uk/ExcessiveTemperatures



‘My classroom acts like a greenhouse’.



Some of the comments from NASUWT members who took part in the survey



“Excessive temperatures make it almost impossible to be dynamic in the classroom. How can I encourage my students to fully engage when I am struggling to move around in a room so hot that I feel nauseous?”



“Even older, highly motivated A level students lose the desire to work. Younger and less motivated students become restless, less well-behaved, irritable and occasionally aggressive, often engaging in unsociable behaviour with fellow students to the point of fighting with each other.”



“I become light-headed and find that I have to sit down regularly to avoid fainting, which is not in the interests of my pupils. I become lethargic as a result of the sweat and light-headedness, which means that my level of engagement with the students is not always as it should be.”



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