VIEWS & OPINION


Work-related stress is harming school staff –


our five steps to tackle it Comment by ROB MCGREAL, stress policy lead at Health and Safety Executive


Across Great Britain, work-related stress accounts for more than half (57%) of all working days lost due to ill health, or around 15.4 million days. Schools are not exempt; the education sector has a higher than average incidence rate for stress, depression or anxiety caused or made worse by work. Employers can’t ignore the problem; they have legal duties both to assess the risk of work-related


stress to their employees and to put in place measures to prevent or manage it. What’s more, if a member of staff takes time off sick, someone else


has to pick up their work or an expensive supply teacher will be required. Pupils lose the continuity of having their regular teacher, creating another problem for school leaders to deal with.


Here are HSE’s five steps to tackle this


• Start the conversation Talking about the problem is an important first step helping to lift the stigma, so people find the right support to feel psychologically well. School leaders should have conversations about work-related stress or


mental health issues with staff to identify and address the causes. Through Go Home Healthy, we’ve launched a Talking Toolkit


specifically aimed at helping school leaders begin these conversations. It’s a practical guide with templates for six conversations and resources for preventing work-related stress.


• Find the right resources There is a wealth of resources out there. In fact, just last year Heads Together and Mind launched #MentalHealthAtWork, an online gateway of resources from organisations like ACAS, Time to Change, CIPD, TUC and HSE. This hub is user-friendly and allows you to break down the type of resource by sector and job role. You can access it at www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk


• Know the causes Without knowing what causes work-related stress in your school, it’s impossible to tackle it. We have developed our Management Standards approach as one way of getting to the root causes. The best way to find out what’s causing the problems is by asking


those being affected – speaking to staff is essential, gather information through conversations, checking pre-existing data e.g. fit notes, staff feedback and exit interviews.


• Bust the myths One of the main causes of stress is workload demands making it important to understand what work your school needs to deliver and what it doesn’t. One thing we’ve found working with schools is that lots of paperwork isn’t necessarily required for inspection anymore but is gathered “just in case”. Both Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE) have produced


myth-busting resources to help schools identify what work is unnecessary. Ofsted’s inspection myths guidance and DfE’s Workload Reduction Toolkit are two great places to start.


• More than just wellbeing or coping Workplaces are increasingly focusing on ‘wellbeing strategies’ – things like yoga, meditation, resilience and mindfulness training. These are often put in place to help people cope.


While these can be beneficial to the individual, they don’t remove the


root causes, nor do they protect others. Removing the causes is most effective in supporting staff and ultimately helping the school fulfil its legal duty in protecting workers. You can join the conversation at #WorkRight and by following


@Go_Home_Healthy on Twitter and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoHomeHealthy/


Preparing our young


people for the future Comment by MATTHEW MURRAY, creator of the primary school blog '2 Stars and a Wish'


Great technological developments are coming that could change transform our economy. We will need to prepare our young people for this reality, and they will need to be resilient in the face of huge change. How can we prepare our young people for the


future? This is the foremost question we should ask ourselves as educators and it should inform the shaping of our curriculum. As developments in technology gather pace,


the capacity of machines to replace humans in the labour market will increase. Many people are


worried that because of this process of automation, many jobs previously safe could soon be lost. This is because machines could begin taking on jobs that rely upon thinking skills - cognitive labour. Jobs in accountancy could be at risk along with receptionists, call centre workers and train drivers. With these developments, the future may be defined by constant


change. As the unstoppable march of technology goes on, more industries will be likely automated, with workers having to retrain ever more frequently; fewer people will be in a job for life. And, as change is


22 www.education-today.co.uk


often seen is a trigger point for mental health crises, being taught strategies to help children be resilient in the face of change will better help them to negotiate their future. Teaching wellbeing could well become a necessary cornerstone of the


national curriculum. Currently, we are facing a mental health crisis amongst our young people: 1 in 10 young people are believed to have a diagnosable mental illness. Many schools already use strategies such as ‘Mindfulness’ to help children overcome difficulties that they encounter in their lives. However, education systems in the future could make room for wellbeing subjects to become a key curriculum area. We already promote good physical health through the Physical


Education curriculum. Why shouldn’t we have a Mental Health Education curriculum too? The teaching could focus on building a lifestyle that promotes good mental health, as well as strategies to cope with life’s stresses. The government has recently announced that a limited ‘relationships’


curriculum will be compulsory in maintained schools as of 2020. The primary coverage is restricted to a few topics such as ‘stranger danger’ online. Whereas the secondary coverage will take a broad look at common mental health issues and how to spot them. However whilst this is an important step in the right direction, it does not go far enough: it does not make mental health education a key curriculum area, or one that has parity with physical education. Currently there is a lot of discussion around children’s mental health;


thankfully, this is beginning to recognise the huge effect that the internet and social media are having upon young people. But, this is playing catch-up in an area where we need to be two steps ahead. The things we teach now need to be future proof. We should not just


prepare children for today’s world – we should teach them the skills they will need in the world of tomorrow.


September 2019


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