Teachers and other people working in education now have the joint highest rates of long Covid out of all occupational groups – the TES reports.
Cases of long Covid among teachers are now equal with the social care sector, the figures from the Office for National Statistics say.
The number of teachers and other education staff self-reporting long Covid symptoms rose by over a fifth between December 2021 to January 2022, from 3.09 per cent to 3.79 per cent of the workforce.
The sector saw the highest increase among other listed occupational groups in the four weeks in January 2022.
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We are worried about the impact of long Covid on leaders, teachers and support staff, all of whom have worked tirelessly over the last two years, and are now running on empty.
“The government needs to recognise the ongoing impact of the pandemic on everyone working in our schools and colleges, and to do everything they can to support them.”