High cost of teacher stress in Wales revealed
THE cost of stress on teachers and council budgets has been laid bare.
Every council in Wales was asked to detail the length of absences teachers have taken due to stress.
The longest individual absence was in the Vale of Glamorgan, at 683 days, followed by Gwynedd with 647 days. Only one local authority, Monmouthshire, provided figures to Plaid Cymru on the longest cover by a supply teacher for a teacher off with stress – 15 months at a cost of £28,800.
Plaid Cymru’s research shows a “looming workforce crisis”, according to the party, due to a fall in the number of teaching staff and not enough new teachers entering the profession.
Looking at teacher recruitment and retention, Plaid Cymru said latest Welsh Government figures from last summer show its target for intake of secondary school trainee teachers was missed by a third in 2015-16.
Intake for primary school trainees was also below target.
Official data for the total number of qualified teachers in post across Wales show a slow but steady reduction to 26,172 in 2016-17, compared with 26,869 five years previously and 28,194 10 years ago.
According to the Welsh Government, there were 110 teaching vacancies where no appointment was made in 2016.
The figures come as an annual survey of teaching days shows that the number of days lost to stress has remained stubbornly around 50,000 since 2012 at a cost of around £8m a year, according to the National Education Union Cymru (NEU).
The union said that stress is a “totally unacceptable blight on our education sector”.
They have asked every one of Wales’ 22 councils how many days teachers have taken off citing stress related illness. The Freedom of Information Act responses show it hovers around 50,000 each year.
NEU Wales policy officer Owen Hathway said: “Stress has a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of staff, an impact on the continuity of teaching, as well as a hit to funding.
“Failing to tackle the cause, most prominently the workload and accountability burdens on school staff, is significantly hindering the ability of all teachers to do their jobs effectively. We know the Welsh Government have recognised this as a problem, and we were pleased to be able to work with them and other partners to develop new guidance on workload issues.
“However, if we do not see further action, undoubtedly it will have a longer-term impact on recruitment, retention and morale right across the sector.”
North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s education spokesman, said austerity is having a detrimental effect on spending and staff with councils’ gross school budgeted expenditure almost flatlining at around £2.5bn over the past five years.
“At the same time, schools have been tasked with delivering several education reforms, “Mr Gruffydd warned. “Faced with constant cuts and increasing workloads, it is little wonder teaching staff suffer from stress.
“It is also little wonder the Welsh Government is struggling to meet its trainee teacher recruitment target, as perceptions of heavy workloads will put off talented young people when they can be paid more to work in less stressful environments. The Labour Welsh Government must act now to prevent a crisis in Welsh schools. The forthcoming devolution of teachers’ pay and conditions provides an opportunity for a wholesale review of pay and workloads for teachers.”