The number of sick days taken by teachers has risen - could it be the piling pressure on educators at the root of the issue?
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00:00Teacher sickness led to the loss of close to 2.6 million working days in schools in
00:06England in the last round of figures, with 66% of teachers taking some time off due to
00:11health issues. Department for Education figures show that the average teacher is taking eight
00:16days off sick a year. That's up from 6.3 days on average compared with the previous academic
00:21year. It's a similar picture for Wales in the last statistics which come from the 2021-22
00:27academic year. There were 38,900 teacher sickness absences compared with just 17,415
00:34from the previous academic year. And across both England and Wales, research has uncovered
00:39the sheer number of teaching assistants who've had to cover lessons for teachers off sick
00:43or who've left the profession altogether. Experts are blaming inadequate funding along
00:48with the teacher recruitment crisis for the shortage of full-time qualified staff, with
00:52two in five TAs saying they cover classes at least five hours a week. That's roughly
00:56the equivalent of one school day a week. What could be the cause of teacher absenteeism
01:00in the UK? Do you think teachers are overworked?