More than one million days were lost to teacher sickness across Scotland in three years, new figures show.
Dundee saw a 30% increase in the number of teachers absent due to poor health between 2013/14 and last year, according to figures obtained by a Conservative MSP.
In Perth and Kinross, there was a fall in overall sickness absence, but an increase in the number of days lost to stress or mental health conditions.
Murdo Fraser, the Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, blamed much of that on the strain being shouldered by teachers amid falling staff numbers and the introduction of the curriculum for excellence with further burdens on the profession in the pipeline.
He said: “I urge the Scottish Government to be sensitive to the added pressure brought by new standardised testing and possible internal league tables. Not only are these conditions concerning for the teachers involved but there is also an impact on the individual student’s education.
“Supply and cover teachers are more than capable but nothing can replicate the rapport and knowledge of the teachers who are off ill.”
Perth and Kinross teachers were off work with stress and mental health issues over 3,956 days last year, compared with 3,449 the previous year. Fife saw a drop in stress absence, from 6,123 days to 5,838.
That comes on the back of there being 73 fewer teachers in Mid-Scotland and Fife last year than in 2011, as pupil numbers rise, Mr Fraser said.
While the figures are not broken down for stress in Dundee, the number of days lost to teacher sickness in the City of Discovery went up from 7,581 to 9,862 last year.
Nationally there were 1,004,139 days lost to teacher sickness between 2012 and 2015.
The Scottish Government has said they work with the unions and local authorities to make sure teacher workload is balanced and they have the freedom to deliver the curriculum.
Angela Constance MSP, Scotland’s Education Secretary, announced that more than £2 million is being spent to train an extra 260 teachers next year, including at Dundee University.
She said that will mean the number of student places for trainee teachers would rise for the fifth year in a row.
“We want to make sure we have the right number of skilled teachers in our schools to help all of our young people to succeed,” she said. “That’s why we worked with local authorities to maintain teacher numbers this year and aim to do the same again next year, with a further £51 million funding.”