More than nine years’ worth of teacher work days were lost in Angus in the first quarter of this year.
Almost 3400 working days were lost through sickness absence between January and the end of March.
That is 418 days higher than were lost in the same period last year more than a year of lost days.
The information came to light after the council published sickness absence figures for all of its departments.
But although teaching absences rose sharply, the overall figures were actually good news for the local authority.
Just over 15,000 days were lost to sickness in the first three months well down on the 16,050 in the same period last year.
The percentage of days lost against available working days also fell from 5.34% to 5.09%.
An Angus Council spokesperson said, “The council is pleased that sickness absence overall is lower than the same period last year.
“Despite there being a slight increase in teacher absence it is still below the average for the council overall.”
They added, “We continue to actively monitor and manage sickness absence and the annual sickness absence report, which provides further information on the reasons for absence, will be considered by the scrutiny and audit committee in September.”Percentage still downDespite the increase in the number of teacher absences, the percentage of education staff days that were lost was still down on the council average.
Just under 4.8% of teaching days were lost.
That is a sharp rise from the 4.08% that was registered last year, but below the Angus-wide total of 5.09%.
However, although the percentage of lost teaching days is still below the average, the council could be set for another sharp rise in absences when figures for the second quarter are released later this year.
Teaching staff across the UK were among those worst hit when Europe’s airlines were grounded in April by fallout from the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic ash cloud.
The disruption occurred during the Easter holidays, when many school staff were on leave, and led to extensive travel headaches when they tried to return to the UK for the start of the new term.
The latest figures do not cover that period, as the fallout from the ash cloud did not begin until two weeks after the end of the first quarter.