Her union, the National Union of Teachers, says the payment from the local education authority which employed her could pave the way for other settlements.

The teacher, Muriel Benson, 60, was forced to take ill-health retirement in 1996 from Prenton High School, a girls' comprehensive in Birkenhead, Merseyside, where she taught English and media studies - a course she had set up - and was a head of year.

"I feel as if I have been through a process of bereavement. I feel my career was taken away from me and the job I love destroyed," she said.

She had suffered growing pressure which caused increased illness, including anxiety and depression, and is now on incapacity benefit.

'Angry'

The NUT says her employer, Wirral Metropolitan Borough, has agreed an out-of-court settlement for �47,000 including repayment of benefits.

"I feel angry that my employers did nothing to assist me or other colleagues who ended up in similar difficulties," said Mrs Benson.

"There was a failure on the part of my managers to recognise the stresses caused by the complexity of my responsibilities."

The NUT's General Secretary, Doug McAvoy, said the outcome confirmed that teacher stress was an occupational health problem which employers must take seriously.

"Teachers' goodwill and commitment cannot continue to be exploited," he said.

No-publicity settlements

"Each case turns on its own particular merits, but Mrs Benson's case will now make it easier for claimants to demonstrate that they are at risk of foreseeable injury.

"Too many teachers round the country are suffering similar pressures and strains. It is not acceptable that teachers' health should be put at risk in this way."

Other unions have also settled cases out of court but have had to agree as part of the deal not to publicise them.

The legal officer at the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, Mary Howard, said employers did not want the results broadcast because they might be taken as some sort of guidance in other cases - although, because they are out of court, they do not form a legal precedent as such.

The NUT's spokeswoman, Olive Forsythe, said that nevertheless Mrs Benson's case was "a shot across the bows" of education authorities.

The union's lawyers were examining 16 other cases "very closely" with a view to going to court and a further 100 cases were being investigated.

'Foreseeable risk'

Mrs Benson claimed that her employers had organised her system of work so negligently that it exposed her to "a foreseeable risk of injury".

They had not carried out an assessment of risk, had failed to act on Mrs Benson's complaints about her workload, or on her sickness record, and did not provide any stress management counselling.

Having taught at the school from 1977, Mrs Benson was appointed head of year in the 1980s. As well as teaching English language and literature and media studies and undertaking pastoral duties such as parents' evenings as head of year, she ran after-school activities, organised school trips, served as a teacher governor, and produced the school magazine and an annual poetry festival.

In 1988 she began writing to her employers about her workload. She felt she was at full stretch and had physical symptoms including palpitations.

Mrs Benson's health began to deteriorate. In February 1995 she was signed off work for two weeks by her GP, suffering from acute anxiety.

Additional class

When she returned to school, the NUT says, her employer took no steps to monitor the situation or follow up the sick note or her complaints about her workload.

In September 1995 at short notice she was told she would be given an additional examination class to teach in the coming year and her GCSE media studies class would be bigger.

"When I protested that I had three examination subjects and my groups were larger than others, I was told I was a victim of my own success," Mrs Benson said.

"It was suggested that I put some pupils off the course, but this added to my stress as it went against my professionalism."

At the beginning of November 1995 she became unable to work and her doctor signed her off again due to stress. She had deep depression and took over 18 months to recover.

'Loved the pupils'

Mrs Benson saw the education authority's occupational health consultant in May 1996 but the union says no significant steps were taken to help her back to work. She retired at the end of December 1996.

"I feel angry that my career ended in this way," she said.

"I had looked forward to teaching until I was 60. I loved working with the pupils and know I made an excellent contribution to the school.

"Now I am energetic but cannot focus on any activity without being obsessive. I'm hyperactive. I have good days and bad days and have been awarded incapacity benefit because of my inability to work."

Mrs Benson still feels that teaching is a rewarding career.

"My guilt and anguish over the demise of my career is beginning to recede," she said.

"I consider it a privilege to have taught at Prenton, to work with young people, sharing their fun and their concerns.

"It is a huge responsibility, but there is nothing to match the satisfaction gained from a successful lesson and seeing a class eager to continue the work.

"I miss Prenton and its lively pupils. I wish the school well."