Education Minister: “We are doing absolutely everything we can” to resolve the teachers dispute

Wales’ Education Minister has said the Welsh Government is “doing absolutely everything it can” to resolve the teacher’s dispute which has resulted in many schools being closed today.

It is the first of four planned strike days in by teachers in Wales in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The impact of the strikes will vary from school to school, with some closed, others open to some pupils, and online learning being an option for some.

Flintshire Council has said more than 40 schools will be fully closed in the county today. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales this morning, Education Minister Jeremy Miles MS said: “I want to reassure pupils, and their parents that we are working with our partners to resolve the dispute.”

“We’ve held a number of constructive meetings with unions and local education authorities already.”

He said: “There are further meetings happening this week in an effort to resolve the dispute.”

“We don’t want to see schools closed obviously we want to see young people in school.”

“So we’re doing absolutely everything we can to resolve the dispute.”

Parent support

The majority of parents support teacher strikes in Wales and England according to a survey, despite the fact that nearly half say that their children’s education will be disrupted as a result.

A Mumsnet survey of over 1,200 parents showed that the majority of respondents support the teacher strikes in Wales and England, despite nearly half saying that their children’s education will be disrupted.

Wales’ Education Minister Jeremy Miles MS

The survey also revealed that 62% of parents blamed the government for the strikes, rather than the teachers.

Mumsnet CEO and founder, Justine Roberts, said: “While we understand the strikes will cause disruption for families with parents having to work from home or take leave, there is still a significant amount of sympathy for teachers.”

“Many Mumsnet users are blaming the government for the lack of funding and recruitment problems facing schools, leading to the industrial action.”

Ms Roberts added that the survey results showed an increasing number of conversations about schools struggling to attract and retain staff and how that, combined with a lack of funding, is already affecting education for children who need additional support.

Teacher salaries fallen by 23%

According to NEU data, teachers’ salaries have fallen by 23% in real terms since 2010, while support staff have seen a 27% decrease. With inflation at over 10%, the average pay rise for teachers this year, following the autumn statement, is at 5%.

The unions have criticised teachers’ pay offer, saying years of underfunding have caused a recruitment and retention crisis that is harming children’s education.

The NEU ballot result showed 92.28% of teacher members voted to strike, with a turnout of 58.1%.

Jeremy Miles said he has made a proposal to unions “in relation to a one-off payment in this financial year, together with a commitment to discuss issues around workload.”

He said: “We’ve also been looking at what we can do to adjust the process that we have for setting pay year on year. So there are three separate areas that are being discussed, and those are being discussed this week as well.”

“We’ve had constructive meetings and people have come to the discussion open to finding a resolution.”

“We obviously have not found a resolution yet but we are working hard together to find that.”