The NEU Cymru teaching union is today opening a preliminary electronic ballot over teacher pay, education funding and proposals to reconfigure the school year.
Thousands of teacher members in maintained schools across Wales will be asked whether they would take part in industrial action, in an attempt to secure extra funding from the Welsh government for pay and staffing.
The ballot also addresses what NEU Cymru describes as “unacceptable” plans to remove two weeks from the summer holidays and shift them elsewhere in the school calendar.
The union says the ballot “forms part of an ongoing campaign to secure a long-term correction in pay”.
The preliminary ballot opens today and closes on Thursday 28 March. The questions put to NEU members are:
• Do you agree that you should receive an above-inflation pay rise for 2024-25?
• Would you vote “yes” to strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise that constitutes a meaningful step towards a long-term correction in pay, and further funding to provide improved levels of staffing provision in schools, colleges and education services?
• Would you vote “yes” to strike action if the Welsh government imposes a reform of the school year by reducing the summer break to four weeks?
Education in Wales ‘really struggling’
Emma Forrest, NEU assistant general secretary with responsibility for Wales, said: “Education in Wales is really struggling. In real terms, there are cuts to the education budgets across the country.
“There is every indication the Welsh government will only be willing to offer a below-inflation pay rise in the next pay round, so we are putting our members on alert that action may be necessary to ensure a proper pay and funding offer for teachers.”
She added: “Real-terms pay cuts have been central to many of the issues blighting schools. It affects recruitment, with the Welsh government unable to meet its training targets year on year.
“We also see teachers leaving in droves, and too many of them just a handful of years after qualifying.”
Four-week summer holiday proposed
In November, the Welsh government proposed cutting the six-week summer holiday in Wales by a week to give staff and pupils two weeks off in October, starting from 2025-26.
A 12-week consultation has also been exploring the possibility that, further into the future, the summer break could be cut further to four weeks, with staff and pupils then being given an extra week off in May.
An announcement on next steps following the consultation is expected sometime this spring.
As the consultation, started in November, Jeremy Miles, minister for education and Welsh language, said: “The long summer break can be a real strain. Families struggle to find childcare over the six weeks, and others struggle with the additional costs long summers bring. We also know our most disadvantaged learners suffer the most ‘learning loss’ from a long summer.”
Today, however, Ms Forrest said: “School leaders have been making ends meet for too long, with plans to change the structure of the school year - and move up to two weeks from the school summer holidays - showing the Welsh government needs to sort out their priorities and support schools more, not introduce another change.”
