School leaders quitting amid mental health toll, union warns

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of school leaders say their mental health has been harmed in the previous 12 months, with some being forced to leave the profession.

The worrying finding from a survey of more than 1,500 senior leaders by school leaders’ union NAHT, has been revealed as the union prepares to debate the issue at its annual conference in Harrogate, which is being held on Friday 2 May and Saturday 3 May.

NAHT says that pressures of the job are damaging the mental health and wellbeing of leaders and teachers, helping fuel a retention crisis.

At the same time, many schools are struggling to recruit the staff they need, and the number of senior school leaders aspiring to headship is now just 20%, down from 21% last time in 2023 – a record low since the union’s wellbeing surveys began in 2016.

NAHT’s latest survey revealed 45% of leaders needed mental health support in the previous 12 months, with 33% of them getting support, 5% saying it was unavailable, and 7% saying they didn’t know how to access help.

The issue is recognised in a motion to be debated at NAHT’s conference on Saturday 3 May, which says: ‘Leading schools has become more and more pressurised with leaders’ responsibilities extended to provide unsustainable social services – pushing some staff to crisis point and crucially leaving the profession. We need an urgent focus on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of school leaders.’

The motion calls on the union’s executive to urge the government to ‘fully fund an ongoing entitlement to professional supervision for school leaders’ as part of its mission to improve staff retention.

Motion proposer James Hawkins, NAHT’s Birmingham branch president, says this would involve making funded wellbeing support – currently limited to some roles, restricted to six one-hour online sessions, and open to just 840 people each year – available for all leaders.

Nearly nine in ten (88%) school leaders reported the role had affected their sleep, with 77% reporting increased worry and stress, 76% saying it negatively affected their family or personal life, and 59% that it had a negative impact on their physical health.

In addition, 88% said the time they spent supporting their staff with mental health issues had increased in the last three years.

When asked what would encourage them to stay in or aspire to other leadership roles, 60% cited greater professional recognition, 47% action to reduce workload, and 47% further above-inflation pay rises – after real-terms cuts of nearly 17% since 2010.

A third (33%) said scrapping Ofsted sub-judgements would help, with the conference also set to debate a motion urging delegates to agree to oppose the inspectorate’s proposals for reform, which increase the number of sub-grades.

That motion also calls on NAHT to campaign for accountability systems that ‘support schools, staff, and students rather than punish them through reductive, misleading judgments’ and to ‘explore the legal and industrial options available’ to protect the mental and physical health and wellbeing of school leaders and staff.

When asked in the survey what the government could do to immediately reduce workload, which many leaders described as unmanageable, 66% said ending the high stakes nature of inspections would help.

A huge 86% said fully funding and resourcing sufficient provision for pupils with special educational needs would make a difference, while 44% cited improving the availability of health and social care services to better support schools.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT’s general secretary, said: “It is deeply concerning that so many dedicated school leaders are struggling and that some are even quitting the profession they love due to the toll on their mental health.

“From crippling workload, fuelled by picking up the slack after years of under-investment in public services, to the pressure of inhumane, unreliable high-stakes inspections, it feels like school leadership increasingly comes with a health warning.

“With the best will in the world, school leaders feeling this way may struggle to bring their A-game to the job and there is clearly a risk that ultimately children’s education will suffer. To rub salt in the wounds, all this follows years of real terms pay cuts under previous administrations which seemed intent on talking down the profession.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. The government demonstrated good intentions with this year’s above-inflation pay rise and its move to scrap single-word Ofsted judgements. These findings demonstrate far more must be done to restore school leadership and teaching as an attractive proposition and show real ambition on pay, funding, inspection and workload to turn this ship around.”

As part of a case study, Hilary Mitchell explained that pressures on her mental health and wellbeing had contributed to her quitting her job as principal at Caldmore Primary Academy in Walsall at Easter after five years.

Ms Mitchell, who has now quit the profession for good, said: “You end up doing all sorts – cleaning, admin when you are short-staffed, supervising breaks and lunchtimes – the list is endless. You get phone calls and messages at all hours, and it was causing arguments between me and my partner.

“At one point I wasn’t getting to sleep until 2am every night because I was worrying about work, at another point I was waking up at 4am. After Covid I was off with stress for three and a half weeks and accessed phone counselling through my Trust.

“At the end of last summer, I was feeling quite poorly again and had spent the first two weeks of the holiday working, and most of the rest of the holidays thinking and worrying about work.

“I thought about quitting then but paid to do some modules to help with stress relief and returned in September feeling really positive. But by the third week the tell-tale signs were returning, and I finally handed my notice in. I was 55 and I thought, life’s too short, even though I live and breathe that school. I feel huge relief, but also massive guilt for my children and staff.

“I’m part of a head teachers’ group on Facebook and it’s full of people saying how overwhelmed they are and that they are leaving the profession.”