School leaders in Wales will end their long-running Action Short
of Strike at midnight on Friday (17 Nov), after NAHT
members accepted a new workload agreement alongside an improved
pay offer and additional funding.
NAHT members in Wales have been in dispute with the 22 local
authority employers since February, commencing Action Short of
Strike on 1 February this year*.
Following a ballot of members at half term, 74% agreed to accept
the improved offer and workload agreement.
NAHT Cymru’s national secretary, Laura Doel, said: “The action
taken by school leaders this year has deliberately protected the
delivery of education, but exposed a host of challenges facing
schools that had for too long gone unnoticed.
“Teachers’ and leaders’ pay has been eroded by a decade of below
inflation pay awards.
"Lack of funding put schools in an impossible position where they
were having to make redundancies to balance the books.
"School leadership had become a cottage industry of evidence
gathering, data collection, report writing and form-filling,
which detracted from their core purpose of leading teaching and
learning in our schools.
“Our action provided the evidence base on which to mount an
unquestionable campaign to increase pay and bring in additional
funding. The workload agreement, predicated on reducing
bureaucracy and focusing attention on what makes a real
difference to the lives of children and young people, is down to
our action.
“An improved pay offer and some additional funding, alongside a
review of the education consortia, coupled with the workload
agreement, has satisfied the asks of the profession and we look
forward to bringing the ambitions of the agreement to fruition.
“There are still a great many challenges facing schools across
Wales, as budget cuts and a recruitment and retention crisis
continue to plague delivery.
“But our members have demonstrated through their actions that
they will stop at nothing to ensure their learners get the very
best education and they will not hesitate to take further action
if it is warranted in the future.”
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “Industrial action
should never have been needed to achieve a settlement that is
acceptable to our members and which benefits children and young
people in Wales too.
“The additional funding secured through this action is a lifeline
for schools, and the new workload agreement vital for freeing
teachers and leaders up to concentrate on what really matters:
the delivery of a first-class education for all.”
- The list of actions school leaders have been taking is
available here.
- Full details of the new offer can be found here.
