In a more traditionally-timed World Cup you would expect sides to battle muscular injuries and fatigue, however, the winter tournament has meant that this year, many teams have also been battling illness outbreaks. While this is fairly unfamiliar to the sporting elite, schools, academies and Trusts are all too familiar with the regular challenges that seasonal outbreaks bring and the problems they can wreak on the workforce. But what can you do to navigate the challenging winter months and keep your teaching workforce fully stocked?
Managing teacher sickness in winter
Sick-related absences at this time of year isn’t a new problem. You won’t need us to tell you that, as the seasons shift and temperatures drop, the proportion of your workforce that will pick up bugs is only going to go in one direction. This has historically put significant pressure on schools and trusts, however, the issue has been supercharged in the period following the Covid-19 pandemic, as many of our immune systems struggle to readjust to the winter onslaught of bugs and viruses.
Your teaching staff are quite literally at the forefront of the wave of illnesses; they are standing in front of a regularly changing group of children, and so it’s hardly surprising that all but those with the strongest immune systems would occasionally get taken down by the bugs.
This year seems to be particularly challenging; most likely from the collective weakening of people’s defences against viruses, but also because this is the first winter without masking and other protective measures, like extensive hand washing, being in place. This trend has also meant that many teachers are, understandably, less keen to come to work when noticeably ill. While this may put more stress on your workforce, it’s the right thing to do in order to cut the spread of germs that could potentially force even more of your staff to take days off.
Mental health burden
As well as the rise and spread of germs, we are also facing a significant mental health burden within the UK education sector. According to one study, teachers spent at least 1.5m days off work due to stress and mental health issues in the 12 months from June 2021 – June 2022. This is an increase of 7% from the previous year and 20% on three years ago. Over the past 5 years, over 7 million teacher days have been lost to mental health issues, highlighting the scale of the pressures facing headteachers in the current climate. Some areas of the UK are worse off than others, Kent saw more lost teaching days than any other county in 2021-22, while Hampshire saw the largest increase year-on-year with almost a third more absences in 21/22 compared to the previous year.
Fortunately, some help is at hand; at The Supply Register, our unique custom-built platform gives schools complete control by helping you to build a bank of cover staff, streamline processes and cut your supply bill by up to 20%, and enables you to react more effectively and quickly to staff absences that could otherwise catch you off guard, leaving you struggling to plug gaps and provide an effective education offer to your pupils. All of our candidates are strictly vetted and are paid at the best market rates, so you’ll be guaranteed to have access to the best quality teaching and support staff to build your talent bank.
Thorough vetting
You don’t only have to take our word, though; our service has also received a 100% mark in the APSCo Compliance+ safeguarding standards. This criterion was developed to provide an uncompromising quality benchmark for Education and Social Work recruitment companies. It is the best practice quality standard for recruitment businesses operating in these fields and compels members to go beyond statutory safeguarding standards and aim for excellence in competency selection and service quality. For us, this means that we can showcase annually reviewed safeguarding which goes beyond statutory requirements that are designed to help safeguard and improve outcomes for children, while also giving your school peace of mind that all staff you work with will have been thoroughly vetted.
Having this support in place, and being assured that you will have access to the best quality supply staff, can go a long way and can remove much of the stress and anguish from trying to fill gaps in your workforce at short notice.
If you would like to find out more about how we could work together to fight against the wave of teacher sicknesses and absences, get in contact today.
