A TEACHERS' leader last night warned the Government after a North-East teacher hanged herself when she found she was unable to cope at work.

On the day Tony Blair hailed David Blunkett as one of Britain's finest education secretaries, an inquest in Middlesbrough heard how work pressure had contributed to a teacher's fragile state of mind.

Coroner Michael Sheffield recorded a verdict that 51-year-old teacher Patricia Anne Stephens, of Gill Street, Guisborough, killed herself.

Her partner, Les Starkie, told him: "She complained about pressure at work.

"There were times when she said that she did not feel she could cope with it."

Mrs Stephens, who left suicide notes, taught at the John E Batty Primary School, Redcar.

Afterwards, Hans Ruyssaeners, national executive member of the National Union of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, said: "The number of people who come to us for help and assistance with lives wrecked by stress is increasing - and it is young people, too, being affected."

He said: "If the Government want to raise standards, then they have to have a fresh and healthy approach to staff which is acceptable and sensible.

"Something has to be done. All teachers have a right to a helpful and sane life outside work.

"It is quite an indictment on teaching when teachers start taking their own lives. We did a survey where we found most teachers average 55 hours a week. But if you break that down, many teachers work in excess of that.

"The kind of work shoved on their shoulders is horrendous. They are in the classroom, have to keep up with new initiatives, and must go through bits of training - all this on top of their normal daily work."