STRESSED out teachers in Swindon took an average of nine weeks off work last year.

The figures, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request, show that of the 29 schools currently on Swindon Council’s payroll service, the average teacher took 44.92 days off work due to stress.

The FoI also showed that of the schools where information was collated, a total of 42 teachers were stressed during 2010/11, the same as the previous year, despite the information for 2009/10 collected from 59 schools.

One teacher in the town said that the job has always been stressful but that increased targets means the job is getting tougher.

He said: “What people don’t see is how much work goes on behind the scenes in terms of paperwork and hitting various targets.

“Teaching children is why we do what we do, but there are a lot other factors, which can be very stressful when all combined.

“Teaching is a great profession and one that is very rewarding, but it can be a very stressful job.”

But a spokesman for Swindon Council said that because so many schools in the town had opted out of their payroll service, the figures might have changed.

He said: “We don’t hold staff sickness information for the vast majority of schools in Swindon, as it depends on whether schools have decided to continue to use the council’s payroll services, or go to an outside provider.

“It’s the pay information that gives us the sickness statistics.

“We support schools that ask for advice and help in managing stress among their staff, but it is down to each individual school to manage.

“The only way to get an accurate overall picture would be for an FoI to be sent to every school and then for those results to be analysed.

“We just have information for 29 schools which is far too few to draw any meaningful conclusions about the true picture.”

Of the 218 schools on the Wiltshire Council payroll, teachers took an average of 12 days off due to stress last year, and last year, while 228 schools were on the council’s payroll, teachers were off work due to stress for an average of 21 days.