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Government urged to do more to protect teachers |
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.
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