‘Life’s too short’: Former Black Country teacher unveils her reasons for quitting her job as poll finds majority of school leaders say job affects their mental health

Hilary Mitchell, said pressures on her mental health and wellbeing contributed to her quitting her job as principal at Caldmore Primary Academy in Walsall in at Easter.

Ms Mitchell, who has now quit the teaching profession for good, said: “You end up doing all sorts – cleaning, admin when you are short-staffed, supervising breaks and lunchtimes – the list is endless.

“You get phone calls and messages at all hours and it was causing arguments between me and my partner.

“At one point I wasn’t getting to sleep until 2am every night because I was worrying about work, at another point I was waking up at 4am.

“After Covid I was off with stress for three and a half weeks and accessed phone counselling through my trust.

“At the end of last summer I was feeling quite poorly again and had spent the first two weeks of the holiday working, and most of the rest of the holidays thinking and worrying about work.”

On the decision to finally hand in her notice, she said: “I was 55 and I thought, life’s too short, even though I live and breathe that school.

“I feel huge relief, but also massive guilt for my children and staff.

“I’m part of a head teachers’ group on Facebook and it’s full of people saying how overwhelmed they are and that they are leaving the profession.”

Ms Mitchell’s comments come as a poll suggests that the majority of school leaders said their mental health has been negatively affected in the last year.

Only one in five senior leaders in schools now aspire to be a headteacher, according to the survey by school leaders’ union NAHT.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, has called for more to be done to restore school leadership as an attractive proposition and for “real ambition” on pay, funding, inspection and workload.

The findings have been published ahead of the NAHT’s annual conference in Harrogate in North Yorkshire on Friday and Saturday.

Conference delegates will debate a motion which says school leaders have been pushed to “crisis point” and have quit due to the pressures of the job.

The motion – which is due to be debated on Saturday – calls for an “urgent focus” on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of school leaders.

A poll of 1,517 NAHT members in England, found 65% of school leaders said their role had a negative impact on their mental health in the last 12 months.

The survey, which ran between September and October in 2024, suggests only 20% of senior school leaders aspire to headship or beyond in the future – which is a record low since the NAHT began its wellbeing survey in 2016.

The poll found more than two in five (45%) of school leaders said they needed mental health and wellbeing support over the last 12 months.

Overall, 88% of leaders said their role had affected their sleep, 77% reported increased worry and stress, 76% said it negatively affected their family or personal life, and 59% said it had a negative impact on their physical health.

Mr Whiteman said: “It is deeply concerning that so many dedicated school leaders are struggling and that some are even quitting the profession they love due to the toll on their mental health.

“From crippling workload, fuelled by picking up the slack after years of under-investment in public services, to the pressure of inhumane, unreliable high-stakes inspections, it feels like school leadership increasingly comes with a health warning.

“With the best will in the world, school leaders feeling this way may struggle to bring their A-game to the job and there is clearly a risk that ultimately children’s education will suffer.”

He added: “These findings demonstrate that far more must be done to restore school leadership and teaching as an attractive proposition and show real ambition on pay, funding, inspection and workload to turn this ship around.”