The Welsh government is failing to partner with teachers to improve and enrich the education system in Wales, according to members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union.

At NASUWT’s Annual Conference, members called for the Welsh government to engage further with the union on issues including:

• The crisis in pupil behaviour – Welsh local authorities received 6446 violent incident reports from schools in 2023-24, and violent incidents have more than doubled over the past three years.
• The underfunding and lack of preparedness over the Additional Learning Needs Code, with 89% of teachers with ALN responsibilities reporting that they do not have enough time to fulfil those responsibilities, and 83% of teachers saying that cuts to ALN funding and resources have increased their workload.
• Lack of progress on excessive teacher workload, with 85% of teachers in Wales reporting that their workload has increased in the last year.
• The failure of the Welsh government’s National Supply Pool, with 48.5% of supply teachers in Wales reporting problems securing work in the last year and 15% securing little or no work.
• The serious concerns over the new GCSE qualifications in Wales, with NASUWT forced to step in earlier this year to lobby for a delay to the roll out of the new GCSE History due to a lack of available course materials and planning time for schools.

Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“Teachers in Wales have faced unprecedented challenges over the past year which the Welsh Government has failed to address adequately.

“The scale of the challenges affecting schools and colleges in Wales are such that a national recovery plan needs to be made a priority by the Welsh Government.

“To tackle the urgent issues facing the Welsh education system, we need more than just engagement from ministers – we need action that will make a difference and investment to match the scale of the challenges being faced by our members.”

Neil Butler, National Official for Wales, said:

“It’s been a hard year to be a teacher in Wales.

“We’ve seen the worst learner behaviour crisis in living memory, with schools reporting skyrocketing levels of violent incidents and local authorities failing time and time again to provide places in specialist units for pupils who desperately need help.

“We’ve seen workloads increase, and at the same time, teacher redundancies are increasing. Pupils need teachers, but those teachers are finding it harder to keep or secure jobs in the communities they love due to funding cuts. It’s even worse for supply teachers, who have been let down by the Welsh Government with the scrapping of the National Supply Pool.

“The upcoming Learner Behaviour Summit will be, we hope, an opportunity to kick start change and build fruitful relationships. But teachers have had to fight tooth and nail to get it, when they are already depleted and exhausted.

“Teachers and pupils are all entitled to safe schools where everyone is supported to do their best work. We need 2025 to be the year the Welsh government decides to fund and create real change.”