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Governing bodies



Nearly all teachers believe that mandatory training and external scrutiny of governors should be introduced. Teachers in Wales have even less faith in the competency, judgement and support provided by the governing bodies than teachers in the rest of the UK.



Findings included:



66% of teachers do not believe that governors have the relevant skills;

87% believe that the governing body acts in accordance with the wishes of the headteacher, rather than for the good of the whole school;

nearly two thirds of teachers in Wales do not believe their governing body adds any educational value to their school and over half do not feel the governors provide adequate support and challenge to their headteacher;

nearly a third of teachers believe their governing body is not fit for purpose;

71% do not believe their governing body would be fair and balanced in dealing with staffing issues;

92% believe governors should undertake mandatory training;

over three quarters think governors should be subject to external scrutiny.



Workload



The increasing pressure being exerted on schools and teachers from the inspection and accountability regime is clear in this year’s survey.



Other issues identified:



workload was the biggest worry among teachers, with 73% saying this was a concern for them;

administration for inspection is now the top workload driver with over half of teachers citing this as a major burden;

target-setting and record-keeping and were the second and third most common generators of excessive workload for teachers another reflection of the ‘boxticking’ culture which is engulfing schools;

moderation of pupil assessments is a bigger cause of bureaucracy for teachers in Wales than elsewhere in the UK and self-evaluation and class sizes were among the top workload generators.



Job satisfaction



Most teachers feel their wellbeing is not seen as important by their employer and workplace stress is on the increase. The result is that half of all teachers report that their job satisfaction has declined in the last year.



Just as worryingly, a significant number of teachers report that their school is not fit for the demands of high quality teaching and learning.



30% of teachers do not feel respected as professionals and over a quarter feel their classroom expertise is not valued;

nearly half do not feel their opinions are respected by school management;

two in five do not feel parents value their work and over a third do not believe school management values their work;

39% of teachers do not feel their school buildings are fit to teach in and 43% say they are not fit for pupils;

44% say they are not provided with the resources to enable them to teach effectively;

over half say their school does not have high quality ICT;

over three quarters of teachers have experienced more workplace stress in the last year;

18% have experienced discrimination at work in the last year;

71% say their job has impacted negatively on their wellbeing in the last 12 months;

half say their job satisfaction has declined in the last year;

nearly six in ten have considered leaving their job in the last 12 months and nearly half have considered leaving the profession;

there is little faith among teachers in Wales that government policies will raise educational standards. Ninety-eight per cent said they did not believe Government reforms would improve education.



Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said the results were a damning indictment of a combination of the Coalition Government’s record in office to date and the policies of the Welsh Government and predicted that the anger and resentment revealed by the survey will only escalate in the autumn term.



“This picture of turmoil and demoralisation is the result of Ministers who are not prepared to engage with the profession and press ahead with policies.



“This resentment is only set to grow as in September teachers will be in the second year of the pay freeze and will have had six months of increased pension contributions, reducing the salary of a new teacher by over £3,000 and an experienced teacher by over £5,500.



“New performance management and capability procedures will add to the turmoil and completes the conditions for the perfect storm in the autumn term.”



Visit www.nasuwt.org.uk/BigQuestionReport

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