Alarming rise in challenging parent and pupil behaviour amid unsustainable levels of stress and burnout  

This year’s report has new insights on the impact of pupil and parent behaviour on staff morale and wellbeing, with clear recommendations for change to UK education departments. The charity is calling for the Government to take action on staff retention, stress and burn out rates, and suicide prevention and awareness in the sector.

The report shows staff are experiencing an increase in difficult behaviour across the school and college community which is having a negative impact on their wellbeing.

In a survey of over 3,000 staff:

• 82% of the workforce who told us that challenging behaviour by pupils and students had increased, said this negatively affected their mental health and wellbeing
• 70% who report a similar increase in challenging interactions with parents said it had the same effect on their mental health
• 84% of staff who told us that that verbal or physical abuse by pupils or students has increased believe it is due to a lack of provision for students’ physical, emotional, and mental health needs.

Staff also report that a lack of support from wider public services is negatively affecting their morale, how well they feel they can do their job, and their ability to switch off after work. Of those who report public bodies offer no support to their pupils and students:

• 66% feel this negatively affects their mental health and wellbeing
• 66% feel this negatively affects their ability to switch off from work
• 71% feel this negatively affects their job satisfaction

There is some positive news from this year’s report with a slight improvement in some of the wellbeing data and in perceptions of workplace culture. The good work of school and college leaders has seen a 5% decrease the number of staff saying their organisations’ culture has a negative effect on their mental health (from 55% in 2023 to 50% this year).

We still see disturbingly high rates of stress, anxiety, depression and burnout across the education workforce:

• 77% of the workforce (over three-quarters) continue to report mental health symptoms linked to their work, with high levels of anxiety, depression, stress, and burnout persisting.
• More than one-third of staff score below 40 on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, indicating serious mental health concerns.
• The most common symptoms reported are insomnia (46%), irritability (44%), and difficulty concentrating (38%)

Charlotte Brown*, classroom teacher said:

“Pressure from parents has negatively impacted my mental health. I frequently find myself overthinking interactions, feeling inadequate and exhausted by the demands of my role. This stress has affected my personal life, leaving me too tired to engage with my family or take care of myself.”

Alex Johnson*, deputy head said:

“We see a much higher number of parental complaints, vexatious complaints are a particular issue for school leaders. Complaints affect classroom teachers’ mental health massively; frequent, long emails from parents, worrying about how to respond, expectations to respond immediately, worrying about the next email or if they will be spoken about on social media or in What’s App groups.”

“Everything comes to school – we have no boundaries – we’re the only compulsory universal service. More pupils are finding things difficult and this understandably causes parents anxiety. As a parent of a child with SEND myself, I know it brings a huge amount of difficulties and frustration with the lack of support available.”

Sinéad Mc Brearty, Chief Executive of Education Support commented:

"Disturbingly high rates of stress, anxiety, and burnout continue to affect education staff, exacerbated by pupil and parent behaviour, and a lack of support outside school for children and young people. The impact on teachers’ mental health is significant, and partly explains why so many are leaving the profession. These issues point to societal challenges beyond education that require deep thinking and creativity to address."

Education Support makes the following recommendations to UK education departments (full details on in the Conclusions and Recommendations on page 64 of the report):

1. Staff retention must be prioritised: Dedicated retention strategies – updated to account for the widening responsibilities that now come with a career in education following the Covid-19 pandemic – must be urgently prioritised.
2. Provision for SEND (including additional or learning support needs), children’s mental health and social services, and poverty reduction programmes urgently require proper funding: This will require huge investment, or a radical change in how we align public funding across health, social care and education. The longer we defer a proper settlement, the more it will eventually cost.
3. School and college leader stress requires significant intervention to disrupt the cycle: Government must prioritise the provision of targeted, high quality support to leaders if we are to retain talent at all levels across the sector. Reflective practice such as professional supervision has an emerging evidence base of impact for leaders.
4. The social contract between families, schools and colleges needs to be renewed: It is time to renew the social contract across communities, helping parents, educators and children themselves to align around agreed aspirations for young lives and learning.
5. Improve suicide awareness: Suicides are not included in the Health and Safety Executive’s annual reporting or its inspection and protection regimes. This exemption should be removed and a campaign to raise awareness of mental health risks and to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help should be targeted at the education workforce.

 Sign-posting to support

Teachers or education staff feeling emotionally distressed can call the Education Support helpline: 08000 562 561. The number is free, open 24/7 and offers immediate support.  You do not have to be in crisis to speak to a qualified councillor. If you’re worried you cannot keep yourself safe right now, please call 999 or go to A&E. 

Notes on the research 

The Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024 is the eighth large-scale survey benchmarking the mental health and wellbeing of education professionals in the UK. To download a full copy of the report, including conclusions and recommendations visit the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 3,025 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 10 June and 8 July 2024.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted by education phase and are representative of the education workforce. 

Please share the report on social media. Download template social media messaging and images.

Our CEO Sinéad Mc Brearty is available for interview on request.
Contact: Emily.kenneally@edsupport.org.uk

*Pseudonym used to protect identity