Teachers in England and Wales are four times more likely to experience stress at work than people in other professions, according to a survey.

The counselling service Teacherline says the big factors are Ofsted inspections, too much work, aggressive pupils and parents.

The organisation says that children need healthy, creative and positive teachers, and the government should provide more help to protect them from the consequences of stress.

About 200,000 teachers reported stress due to excessive workload over the last two years, research revealed.

An estimated 85,000 reported aggression from pupils and 58,000 from parents in the same period.

One in five teachers said Ofsted inspections had caused them stress, and 50% said they were likely to leave the profession in the next five years.

The report compiled by the Teachers Benevolent Fund (TBF) said teachers' health and well-being could be improved by making face-to-face counselling available and offering advice on work, personal, financial and health matters.

TBF chief executive Patrick Nash said: "The education service and policy-makers need to examine the benefits pupils receive when they are taught by healthy, creative and positive teachers.

"Provision of employee assistance is no longer a work perk but is increasingly viewed as a sound investment."

Stress line

Teacherline has taken over 7,000 calls since being established in September - around 1,000 a month.

Two thirds of these were related to teachers' work.

By contrast around one-third of calls taken by most workplace counselling services are work-related, rather than family or personal issues.

Evidence from comparable services suggests that teachers are four times more likely to experience work-related stress than other professions.

Over a quarter of teachers' calls concerned stress, anxiety and depression.

Victims of change

Lord Puttnam, chairman of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), an independent body representing teachers, told a conference organised by Teacherline that teachers could feel left behind "in an era of dramatic social shifts and rapid technological innovation".

He urged the government to allow teachers to take an active role in change rather than becoming its victims.

Lord Puttnam said: "By giving teachers ultimate responsibility for their own discipline and code of conduct, the GTC aims to give self-confidence and self-determination back to teachers as professionals.

"We will listen to teachers and help to give them the up-to-date information they need; be it new and relevant research or news about others with shared problems and potential solutions."