AHC Professor wins award for article examining responses to elevated suicide risks faced by female primary schoolteachers in the UK
A Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures has won a prestigious award for an article examining responses to the elevated risk of suicide faced by female primary school teachers
A Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures has won a prestigious award for a journal article examining authorities’ responses to the elevated risk of suicide faced by female primary schoolteachers in the UK.
Professor Sarah Waters in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies won the award for Outstanding Paper in the 2024 Emerald Literati Awards, for her article 'Ofsted suicides: who is responsible for suicide prevention?'.
Published in the Journal of Public Mental Health, the paper examines the response of the relevant authorities to evidence that female primary schoolteachers in the UK have an elevated suicide risk.
It situates the recent tragic death of a primary school head teacher, Ruth Perry, following an Ofsted inspection at her school, within the wider context of teacher suicide deaths and asks what, if any, action the authorities have taken to prevent avoidable suicide deaths from occurring.
Professor Sarah Waters said:
“Work-related stress has become a major public health concern and is particularly acute in schools where teachers endure extraordinary pressures and scrutiny.
“The tragic suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, and a campaign by Ruth Perry’s family, have led to a cross-parliamentary inquiry into Ofsted, but we have yet to see if this will lead to substantive changes to the inspection process to reduce the harmful pressures placed on teachers. Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Executive, whose core mission is to prevent work-related deaths, has failed to act in response to this case or indeed to any other suicide case.
“Without taking responsibility for preventing suicide deaths and putting in place mechanisms to monitor, investigate and regulate work-related suicides, there is a risk that further avoidable suicide deaths will continue to occur.”
Professor Waters is part of a broad campaign, led by the Hazards trade union group, calling for work-related suicides to be recognised, investigated, and prevented.
Hazards estimates that there are 650 work-related suicides every year in the UK – equating to over 50 suicides linked to work every month. They also estimate that approximately 10% of all suicides are work-related.
However, the UK regulator does not recognise or investigate work-related suicides, treating them instead as private matters, and employers are not required to take any steps after a suicide occurs.
Professor Waters adds: “The work-related factors that push individuals to such desperate extremes are not taken seriously, no changes are implemented, and no lessons are learnt.”
Evidence from Professor Waters’ paper was submitted to the UK parliamentary committee on Ofsted.
Professor Waters has received a prestigious Wellcome Trust Discovery award for a new four-year project titled ‘Work-related suicide: An International Social Justice Analysis.’
