School leaders are experiencing a profound sense of “moral injury” as they struggle to meet rising demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision from funding that is widely regarded as inadequate, a volunteer on a helpline for headteachers has warned.
Pete Crockett, who takes calls for Headrest – a free telephone support service for school leaders run by former heads – said that in his conversations he regularly hears evidence of the pressures described by Green MP Carla Denyer, who recently announced a leave of absence after her doctor advised she was suffering from burnout. “Many school leaders experience the ‘moral injury’ … particularly around the provision of special educational needs and disabilities, where rising demand too often has to be met from inadequate funding,” Crockett wrote.
The term moral injury, originally used in military contexts, describes the emotional distress that arises when professionals are forced to act against their ethical values because of systemic constraints. In education, it surfaces when headteachers and staff see children’s needs going unmet despite their best efforts, because budgets cannot stretch to the teaching assistants, speech and language therapy, mental health support and staff training that are required. A survey cited in research on the issue found that 99 per cent of school leaders believe funding for SEND is insufficient. Many schools have been forced to reduce teaching assistant hours or subsidise healthcare provision from their own budgets, leaving families and staff trapped in what campaigners describe as a critical crisis.
Burnout among school leaders is not limited to SEND pressures. Crockett also pointed to the accountability system, including Ofsted, whose “high-stakes approach and lack of regard for factors beyond a school’s control do more harm than good”. A report indicated that 71 per cent of staff believe inspections negatively impact their mental health, and the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry has intensified scrutiny of Ofsted’s effects on wellbeing. Unions have warned that the inspectorate’s new education inspection framework could increase pressure on leaders even further.
Headrest, which offers a listening ear to headteachers and CEOs of multi-academy trusts, has noted a rise in calls from school leaders struggling with what it describes as “undeliverable” expectations imposed by trusts and local authorities. The helpline aims to reassure, reaffirm and help recalibrate professionals who are nearing breaking point. “When conscientious but overstretched school leaders and their staff are emotionally broken and mentally burnt out by the very systems that are meant to uphold and enhance standards, something has gone badly wrong,” Crockett said.
The experience of moral injury extends beyond education. Geoff Reid, a former Methodist minister who served in the ecumenical Salford Urban Mission team from 1986 to 1994, recalled that after spending months on sick leave during his time in one of the most deprived areas of the city, he discovered that almost every professional working in that community had suffered from a stress-related illness. “Burnout is not just about helping too many individuals. Sometimes it is about trying to get to grips with a structural context in an area with seemingly intractable problems,” he wrote. Reid’s recovery was aided by a collaborative team approach and a GP who admitted she could not make a clear diagnosis but was willing to write “AE-type illness” – autoimmune encephalitis, a condition where the immune system attacks brain cells, causing symptoms such as memory loss, seizures and behavioural changes – on his sick note.
Professionals in nursing and social work are similarly affected. A UK study found that 28 per cent of NHS nurses quit within three years – a 50 per cent increase since 2013 – with burnout driven by excessive workloads, 12-hour shifts, limited breaks and the lingering stress of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among social workers, 73 per cent reported elevated levels of emotional exhaustion and 79 per cent cited high workloads and burnout as major challenges. Stuart Hicks, a reader, noted that while Gaby Hinsliff’s article for this newspaper rightly highlighted the stressful effects of nursing and teaching, social work – a “unrelentingly demanding job” that often comes at great cost to practitioners’ own wellbeing – remains largely invisible.
Denyer, the Green MP for Bristol Central who was elected in 2024 and previously served as co-leader of the Green Party and a city councillor, has been open about her own struggle with burnout, saying she had dealt with “persistent health issues” for several years and that managing them alongside her role as an MP had become unsustainable. She has spoken of the need to combat stigma, noting that burnout is familiar to many in high-stress, people-facing professions. Her decision to step back on medical advice echoes the experiences of countless educators, nurses, social workers and ministers who find themselves broken by systems they entered to help others.
The stigma around burnout must be challenged, Crockett argued, and wellbeing support properly funded. “If it is not, we risk losing experienced and dedicated professionals prematurely when, with the right support, they could continue contributing their expertise for many years to come.” Over two million health and social care workers in the UK are already considered at risk of burnout, according to research, and the compounding effects of inadequate SEND funding, punitive accountability regimes and impossible caseloads show no sign of easing.
