Government urged to do more to protect teachers

Posted 17/04/2011

The government has been urged to do more to protect teachers after it was revealed that insurers were forced to pay out more than £20 million as a result of injuries to such professionals last year.

Unions released the figures this week and they included a number of cases in which teachers had to take early retirement as a result of health problems caused by accidents.

One slipped on some food that had not been cleared up in a stairwell and had to give up their job due to chronic pain and a hernia.

Another – who received £495,000 in personal injury compensation – was pushed into a filing cabinet by a pupil and suffered such serious spinal injuries that they were left wheelchair-bound.

Chris Keates from NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union said compensation is cold comfort to people whose lives have been irreparably damaged as a result of potentially avoidable accidents.

“[The government] should be investigating and addressing the shoddy employment practices that lead to the unfair and unsafe treatment of teachers,” she added.

According to a YouGov poll, half of all teachers have considered leaving their job as a result of stress and a lack of support.