School staff will be offered new mental health support as part of a £1.5 million funding package announced by the Scottish Government in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Barnardo’s Scotland and mental health charity Place2Be will offer new mental health support for staff with the intention this will be available after the October break.
Education Secretary John Swinney said supporting the health and wellbeing of teachers and other staff is of “paramount importance”.
He added: “This was true before Covid-19, but it is of crucial importance as school staff support our children and young people to recover from the pandemic.
“This additional package of measures will complement the excellent practice which is already taking place to support the wellbeing of staff in schools across Scotland.”
It follows on from research released by Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) union which found almost two-fifths of teachers (38%) were “not confident” about keeping safe.
With more than 2,000 teachers surveyed, just 6% said they were “very confident” about coronavirus safety, with a further 1% “extremely confident”.
The SSTA research also found a third of teachers said physical distancing measures had not been introduced in their school building.
As part of the new package, Education Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Scotland will also offer new professional learning opportunities for post-probation teachers and develop a new coaching and mentoring offer for teachers who need it most.
Ken Muir, Chief Executive, of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, said it is pleased to deliver “important support to hardworking teachers”.
He added: “GTC Scotland has invested heavily in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of education professionals and we look forward to continuing to do so.”
The package of support for school staff has been developed in partnership with organisations represented on the Education Recovery Group.
