Education Minister Jeremy Miles has outlined Welsh Government plans to reduce workloads for school staff in Wales. Workload was high on the agenda when teachers walked out in a national strike over pay earlier this year.
Headteachers have been working to rule, including not making any data returns or reporting on grant spending. Mr Miles told the Senedd that tackling school staff workload was “a priority” and a managing workload and a reducing bureaucracy group was established last autumn.
That group will now be “re-set” before the start of the new academic year in September “with immediate discussions taking place to agree how we take forward work to ensure that tangible improvements are seen by education staff, including teaching assistants, at school level”.
Read more: Classrooms shut to whole year groups as teachers strike at Swansea school
Actions being taken to tackle school staff workload include:
- A full assessment of the impact on teacher workload before new Welsh Government policy is introduced.
- Reducing the amount of information schools have to report. Mr Miles said the reporting process needs to be clear and avoid duplicating information across public bodies.
- The school workforce annual census will be reviewed to ensure that only essential information is collected, including the addition of a supply cover category to standardise the way that schools collect this information.
- A new online booking system for supply cover will be introduced from September. The system aims to streamline the supply booking process, allowing schools to source supply cover directly, to view available staff in their areas and create their own talent pools.
- A discussion on ending mock inspections and discouraging schools from over-preparation for inspections will be held. The Minister said: “We believe that neither is in the spirit of how to improve the inspection system, is not good use of practitioners’ or advisors’ time, and does not develop professional abilities or support well-being.”
- Key Stage Two and Foundation Phase assessments have already been abandoned in line with the new curriculum, and replaced with teacher assessments to provide “more time and space” for schools to develop the new curriculum.
In a plenary statement on May 16, Mr Miles added: “Managing workload and reducing bureaucracy, allowing school staff more time to focus on teaching, is in all our best interests. However, it is only achievable if we work collaboratively with stakeholders and identify practical solutions that provide the outcomes we need for the profession in Wales.
“I’ll continue to ensure that the measures I’ve outlined today are progressed, reducing workload and bureaucracy for the teaching profession wherever possible.”
Headteachers cautiously welcomed the commitments. Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, said: “We welcome this statement and the commitment to tackling unmanageable workloads in schools.
"The school funding crisis has left teachers and leaders having to do more with less and it is clear that something has to change. Reducing the reporting burdens faced by schools will be key in starting to remove some of the unnecessary tasks that staff face.
"We also support plans to end the practice of mock inspections by external agencies. The inspection process is a time of high pressure for school leaders and we would like to see more work being done to ensure the impact on staff workload and wellbeing is kept in mind at every stage.
“While we remain concerned that funding challenges and the recruitment and retention crisis will continue to increase staff workload, this statement is, nevertheless, an important step in the right direction.”
Laura Doel, Director of the National Association of Headteachers Cymru, particularly welcomed the end to mock inspections. She said: “This announcement follows concerns raised by us over workload and the wellbeing of school leaders during negotiations with the Welsh government. The severe pressure placed upon schools is only being heightened by these unnecessary mock inspections.
"This statement sends an important signal that mock inspections have no place in Wales. We welcome this step while we continue to push for action to address the myriad of issues blighting our schools system which ultimately impact children’s education.
"The intolerable strain unfunded pay awards and bureaucracy puts on schools remains a priority area for discussion and our members remain in industrial action in the form of action short of strike while negotiations continue.”
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