Wales’ education: Teacher pressure sparks staffing fears

Increasing pressure on teachers could lead to a “crisis” in staffing levels, a teachers’ union has said.

A school principal said experienced staff had, among other things, already given up the job for many hours.

The National Headteachers Union Cymru said wage premiums below inflation would exacerbate the problem.

Education Secretary Jeremy Miles told Wales Live he “does not have the resources” to increase wages beyond the 5% increase offered in July.

Louise Jones, head teacher at Maes y Morfa Primary Community School in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, said she regularly spoke to colleagues about concerns about retaining experienced teachers.

She said they were concerned about the new curriculum’s requirements of speaking Welsh, having the right digital skills and a new code of practice.

“The teachers who go are the best teachers because they’ve been doing it for so long,” she said.

“The salary does not compensate them for what they do and the hours are long.

Ms Jones added that teachers are not only learning companions, but also have a responsibility to provide support with health, counseling and well-being, and also have a duty to assist with health care, grooming and brushing.

“Everything that used to be done by other professionals is now being pushed towards teaching.”

“We’ve lost teachers, not necessarily in this school, but in a school that’s a stone’s throw away.”

She said before Covid she had had 27 applications for a role as a learning support assistant and in the latest round of recruitment that dropped to five.

Laura Doel, head of the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru, said that while recruitment and retention has been a problem in Wales for some time, wage premiums below inflation make it worse.

“We know from discussions with our own members that wage premiums below the inflation rate further exacerbate the recruitment crisis.”

Ms. Doel said they had also heard anecdotally that teachers would not stay in the profession after training.

Gareth Evans, director of education policy at the University of Wales Trinity St Davids, said teacher retention and recruitment is a problem across Wales and even the UK.

He believes a crisis is looming, if not already one.

“Education is not immune to challenges faced by the rest of the public sector; shrinking budgets, resource constraints, fewer staff, the cost of living crisis, wage premiums well below inflation, legitimate workflow concerns related to the new curriculum and I think a hangover from Covid is associated and I think we have a challenging one situation before us.

“It is perhaps no wonder that in some cases teachers are reconsidering their positions and those who want to become teachers may be looking for other jobs, but I don’t think it’s doom and gloom for long and we need to remember the positive things. “

Mr Evans said positive aspects included competitive starting salaries, good career development opportunities and the ability to change a child’s life for the better.

“I think what we really need to do in Wales is change the narrative.

“The Welsh Government, unions and even occasionally teachers themselves are all guilty of maybe presenting a more negative image of the profession, while I think we could all be a little better at selling the positives.”

Cameron Stewart, in partnership with the Cardiff Met, leads recruitment and retention for teacher education and said there is a big difference between what happens in primary and secondary schools

“Primary recruitment is very strong, secondary unfortunately is a very different picture, we have some departments that recruit really well, such as sports, but some of our science or modern foreign language paths are numbers that are not where we need them and not where our profession needs them.

“And in the Welsh medium, this is well below demand at both primary and secondary levels.”

Mr Stewart said it was a positive step for the Welsh Government to change the grade from B to C.

“There is an urgent need to tackle the crisis we are facing in our secondary schools and in our Welsh resource supply and I personally don’t think this will have any impact on quality.

“I’ve had to turn people away in the past who didn’t get the grade that would have been great, so I think it’s a positive step forward and actually aligns us with the England admissions requirements.”

The Welsh Government said official figures showed teacher recruitment and retention remained stable.

It has also announced “more incentives” for entry into the profession, including reducing GCSE grade requirements from B to C in English or Welsh and math for teacher training.

New incentives from the Welsh Government include paying eligible student teachers a higher amount after their first semester, rather than at the end of their induction period.

It said it also recognized there was still more to be done, but added that there was a significantly lower “dropout rate” among secondary teachers in Wales compared to England.