Commenting on Education Support's Teacher Wellbeing Index 2021, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Sadly, these findings reflect what we are hearing from teachers and school leaders.

“Even before the pandemic there were significant existing challenges like heavy workload, the high-stakes nature of the job and a decade of salaries falling in real terms. But this has been exacerbated by the lack of trust and support for leaders shown by the government over the past eighteen months.

"We are hearing of far too many school leaders at breaking point, and unless the government takes this situation seriously we could be left facing an exodus from the profession.

“Three quarters of leaders in a recent NAHT survey cited the government’s constantly changing pandemic guidance as their biggest management challenge of the last year. Nearly half said they were less likely to stay in leadership for as long as planned, following the pandemic.

“Despite the increased pressure on them, school leaders have stuck to their task. But unless the government acts urgently to make school leadership an attractive proposition for teaching professionals the school leadership supply pipeline is going to run dry.

"There is no more pressing problem facing the new ministerial team in the DfE and they simply must take this opportunity to completely reset the relationship with the profession.”