It's a hard job, and getting harder?

Michael Gove, shadow children’s minister, and his team have assembled some details on teacher sickness absence.

Absence is increasing. In 1999 the average teacher was absent because of illness for 5.1 days, compared with 5.4 in 2007, an increase over the eight years of 6%. In total, in 1999 2.5 million days were lost from staff sickness. In 2007 the figure was 2.9 million days, an increase of 16%. These figures include both full-time and part-time registered teachers in England., but not classroom assistants.

The reason for the discrepancy between increase for the average per teacher and the annual total is large, I lack information to enable an attempt to explain. For my purposes here they both suggest a significant increase over the 8 years.

In 2007 of the 465,672 registered teachers no less than 311,770, or 67%, took at least one day off through sickness.

On average each day in England in 2007 there were 14,908 teachers off sick. (This hides a big variability, of course, with illness more likely to strike in December and January). Absence seems also to be higher in London than elsewhere. The concern here is that there is an enormous cost. In 2007 schools had to pay upwards from £103 per day for each teacher missing. This figure could rise to £210 per day for a senior teacher at an inner London school.

Michael Gove can do no more than estimate that the financial cost to schools of the supply teaching must into hundreds of millions of pounds each year. Other costs are the disjointed and disrupted learning which occur when a supply teacher replaces a teacher who is absent ill.

Gove appeals to the government to discover why this is happening, but so far the response to his calculations is a bland assurance from the Department for Children that teacher sickness remains low and stable, and comparable with industry norms. In addition the department, while accepting that the occupation is a demanding one, claims to have helped teachers by giving them free time for preparation at school, the help of support staff, and greater ability to remove unruly students.

It would not be difficult to suggest reasons for the increase in sickness, and also a 25% rise in teacher vacancies recently, as well as four in ten new teachers quitting within a year.

Many teachers would point to endless changes in instructions and requirements handed down from Westminster, and too much (unnecessary) form filling. Others would point to behavioural problems which means that they expend so much time and energy in merely keeping order that they have too little for the real business of teaching. Figures for classroom violence are disturbingly high, even at primary level.

What is clear is that teacher morale is low in many situations, despite the vast amount pumped into education under Gordon Brown.

What is equally clear is that the situation will continue, even worsen, until teachers can expect better behaviour from students and less demand from the government for time on activities which contribute little if anything to education.