The data was obtained by the Liberal Democrats through a freedom of information request to all local authorities in England, 83 of which provided responses.
The figures show that in 2016/17, 3,750 teachers in England were signed off on long-term sick leave (i.e. for one month or more) because of work pressures, anxiety and mental illness – roughly one in 83 teachers. This is a 5 per cent increase on the previous year when 3,570 were on long-term sick leave.
However, the figures are likely to be higher given that 69 local authorities did not provide any data.
An analysis of the figures by the political party reveal a total of 1.3 million days have been taken off by teachers for stress and mental health reasons in the last four years, including around 312,000 in 2016/17 – equivalent to losing 1,600 teachers each working 185 days a year.
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