School leaders in Wales are to be formally balloted on industrial action over pay and school funding.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, has announced that, following a consultation with school leaders across Wales and England, the union will be proceeding with a formal ballot on industrial action.
Speaking at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference in Brighton today, he said he had written to local authority employers in Wales to inform them that they were now officially in dispute with the union.
He also said he had been in touch with Wales’ minister for education and the Welsh language, Jeremy Miles, to inform him of the situation.
NAHT Cymru represents school leaders in the majority of primary schools in Wales.
In a survey of members, which ended on Friday 14 October and had a turnout of 84 per cent, 91 per cent of respondents said they wanted to be balloted on taking action short of a strike, should a suitable agreement on pay and funding not be reached. A total of 64 per cent of respondents wanted to be balloted on taking strike action.
School leader strike threat over pay and funding
The Welsh government announced in July that, as of September, all teachers would receive a 5 per cent pay rise, but NAHT Cymru described the deal as “a slap in the face of dedicated educational professionals”.
Today Mr Whiteman said school leaders were “relentlessly reasonable professionals” but that they had been driven to a formal ballot on industrial action because they felt “compelled to fight for the futures of the children and young people in their care”.
He said: “It is no exaggeration to say that the future of education is on the line.”
Mr Whiteman added that insufficient pay was causing a “recruitment and retention crisis” and that underfunding was leading to “heartbreaking cuts to services”.
“Based on current projections, even with this year’s pay award by the Welsh government, school leaders’ salaries will have lost approximately 22 per cent of their value since 2010,” he said.
“They are feeling demoralised and undervalued. Worse than that, they are finding themselves unable to provide the level of education and support for pupils that they know is needed, due to the massive cost pressures that keep piling on to school budgets and the government’s continued underfunding of education.
“Cuts to local authority budgets, spiralling energy bills, inflationary costs and lack of funding for teachers’ pay this year means thousands of schools are predicting going into deficit. Consequently, school leaders are being forced to make cuts that ultimately cannot help but negatively impact on the education and wellbeing of children.
“This is not a situation the dedicated and caring professionals I represent can put up with any longer. Their primary concern is the education and wellbeing of the pupils and staff in their schools. They are telling me very clearly that they feel unable to continue to operate under these circumstances.”
Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said the education system was “at break point”.
“Our leaders are being asked to do more with less, schools are losing staff, and those left are struggling to keep up with the demands of the job,” she said.
“We need to invest in education where it offers the most value for our learners, and that’s in the workforce. It is only with highly skilled, quality teachers and teaching assistants in our classrooms, and strong leaders in our schools, that we can deliver for our children.”
Today industrial action short of a strike was begun by school leaders and teachers in Northern Ireland.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: ”We believe hard-working public sector workers should receive a fair wage. We know they are disappointed this year’s pay awards fall short of inflation. However, we cannot fund such rises without a substantial increase to our budget.
“Our budget is worth up to £4 billion less over the three years of our current settlement, meaning less funding for public services in Wales. And we are facing the prospect of further cuts to come because of the impact of the UK Government’s reckless mini-budget, which has created a black hole in UK public finances.
“The agreed annual process for teacher pay is ongoing and we hope all parties will continue to actively engage as it develops.”
