Almost half (45%) of school leaders needed mental health and well-being support in just a year, a damning new survey has revealed.

The annual poll by school leaders’ union NAHT also found nearly three quarters of leaders (72%) said the job had a negative impact on their mental health over the last 12 months – up from 65% the previous year.

NAHT is warning that this harms their ability to deliver for pupils and support their staff, as well as helping to fuel an increase in the proportion quitting the profession amid a recruitment and retention crisis.

Leaders described a ‘relentless and unforgiving’ system that piles on pressure and workload leading to anxiety and burnout.

Of the 45% of leaders who needed mental health support in the previous year, 38% accessed help, but 4% did not know how to and 3% said assistance was not available.

NAHT is calling for the government to agree to a universal, fully-funded, and ongoing entitlement to professional supervision for all leaders – giving them a confidential space to reflect on the complexities of their role and receive structured support.

Its hopes this would help to tackle a worrying deterioration in the health and wellbeing of its members across several metrics in the previous 12 months, with the survey of more than 1,500 school leaders also revealing that:

• 92%, said the role had affected their sleep, up from 88%
• 83% reported increased worry and stress, up from 77%
• 61% identified a negative impact on their physical health, up from 59%
• 72% reported a reduction in time spent with family and friends, up from 71%

The survey also found nearly nine in 10 (87%) said the time they spent supporting their staff with mental health issues had increased in the last three years.

NAHT’s call for guaranteed professional supervision for leaders comes amid uncertainty over the long-term future of the sessions the government funds the charity Education Support to provide beyond next year.

Even these sessions are currently limited to six per person, and the numbers who can benefit are finite, with 1,400 leaders – less than 2% of the total leadership workforce - receiving support since April 2024.

NAHT’s survey found three quarters (75%) of leaders would value professional supervision. While a third (33%) had received supervision – of whom four in five (80%) found it to be helpful or very helpful - two-fifths (42%) had been unable to access it. This is often due to funding pressures.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT’s general secretary, said: “The poor wellbeing and mental health of school leaders is extremely worrying and should be a real cause for concern for the government.

“Leaders play an absolutely crucial role in shaping the direction of schools and inspiring teachers and pupils. But if they are stressed, overworked, and struggling with their mental health, with the best will in the world they are not going to be able to deliver to the best of their ability.

“It is little wonder that the profession loses many school leaders within a few years of their appointment, and that is a huge waste of talent and experience.”

As well as introducing universal professional supervision, NAHT wants ministers to follow the example of the Welsh Government by specifying that employers should not contact leaders during weekends or holidays, other than in exceptional circumstances.

It is urging the School Teachers Review Body to recommend both measures to the government when it reports back soon on pay, professional duties and working time.

They are part of a package of ‘quick wins’ the union says could help restore the status of leadership as an attractive and sustainable long-term career.

Recent data analysis by NAHT found 30% of primary school heads appointed in 2019 had quit by 2024 - a big jump from the 21% who left in the five years to 2016. Of those heads who left, 71% were no longer working in primary schools.

Mr Whiteman added: “A right to professional supervision, and protected time at weekends and during holidays would be really positive steps the government could take to begin to improve leaders’ mental health and wellbeing.

“However, to really shift the dial, a wider package of measures to reduce unsustainable workload is also needed, alongside action to further support flexible working and properly mitigate the damaging impact of high-stakes accountability on leaders’ wellbeing.

“If combined with further above-inflation salary uplifts over the Parliament to restore the value of pay, which has fallen by 17% in real-terms since 2010, this could also have a big impact in addressing the severe recruitment and retention crisis.”

Notes to Editor

NAHT surveyed 1,517 school leaders in England between 15 and 29 September 2025, including head teachers, deputy heads, assistant heads, school business managers, CEOs and executive heads.

According to the DfE’s school workforce census, the total number of 'leadership teachers' in England is 73,581.26 FTE. Education Support says that since April 2024, 1,400 school and college leaders have begun to benefit from a programme of professional supervision funded by the department and delivered by the charity Education Support.