Teachers face surge in violence and workload as crisis deepens across Wales

he Welsh Government has been accused of failing to address rising pupil violence and workload pressures facing teachers across Wales.

That is according to members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, which found that violent incidents against school staff have more than doubled over the past three years.

Data collated by the union revealed that Welsh local authorities received 6,446 violent incident reports from schools in 2023–24, highlighting the scale of the crisis in pupil behaviour.

Further findings released by the union include:

• Underfunding and lack of preparedness over the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code, with 89% of teachers with ALN responsibilities reporting that they do not have enough time to fulfil those responsibilities, and 83% saying that cuts to ALN funding and resources have increased their workload.
• Lack of progress on excessive teacher workload, with 85% of teachers in Wales reporting that their workload has increased in the last year.
• Failure of the Welsh Government’s National Supply Pool, with 48.5% of supply teachers in Wales reporting problems securing work in the last year and 15% securing little or no work.
• Serious concerns over the new GCSE qualifications in Wales, with NASUWT forced to step in earlier this year to lobby for a delay to the rollout of the new GCSE History, due to a lack of available course materials and planning time for schools.

NASUWT is now calling on the Welsh Government to work alongside its members to help tackle the “unprecedented challenges” facing teachers.

“The scale of the challenges affecting schools and colleges in Wales are such that a national recovery plan needs to be made a priority by the Welsh Government,” said Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT.

“To tackle the urgent issues facing the Welsh education system, we need more than just engagement from ministers – we need action that will make a difference and investment to match the scale of the challenges being faced by our members.”

Neil Butler, National Official for Wales, said the last 12 months have seen the “worst learner behaviour crisis in living memory.”

“It’s been a hard year to be a teacher in Wales,” said Mr Butler.

“We’ve seen the worst learner behaviour crisis in living memory, with schools reporting skyrocketing levels of violent incidents and local authorities failing time and time again to provide places in specialist units for pupils who desperately need help.

“We’ve seen workloads increase, and at the same time, teacher redundancies are increasing.

“Pupils need teachers, but those teachers are finding it harder to keep or secure jobs in the communities they love due to funding cuts.

“It’s even worse for supply teachers, who have been let down by the Welsh Government with the scrapping of the National Supply Pool.

“Teachers and pupils are all entitled to safe schools where everyone is supported to do their best work.

“We need 2025 to be the year the Welsh Government decides to fund and create real change.”

We have contacted the Welsh Government for comment.