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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE





THE BIG QUESTION 2012



Survey shows the teaching profession is in crisis in Wales



Almost half of teachers have seriously considered leaving the profession in the last year, workload is spiralling and nearly three quarters of teachers feel their job is having a negative impact on their wellbeing.



This worrying picture of demoralisation is the result of over 17,500 responses from NASUWT members across the UK to the Big Question, the Union’s annual survey of the state of the teaching profession.



In Wales, almost half of teachers do not believe that their professional opinions are valued and nearly 40% felt that their school buildings were not fit for them to teach in or for pupils to learn in. Nearly half felt they did not have the resources they needed to teach.



Unsurprisingly in the light of such strong concerns, 99% of teachers in Wales felt that the Westminster Government’s policies would not raise standards of education.



Pay and pensions



The impact of the pay freeze and changes to pensions are clearly hitting the profession, with fears of the impact on the recruitment and retention of the next generation of teachers.



Worryingly, over 60% of teachers say they are considering opting out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), meaning the future of the Scheme could be seriously jeopardised.



83% believe that the changes to pensions will have an adverse impact on recruitment;

over half of teachers believe that people are being put off a career in teaching because of the pay freeze;

over three quarters of teachers believe there should be a pay rise in line with inflation and over two thirds of teachers do not believe there should be a pay freeze;

71% say they cannot afford more for their pension;

63% of teachers say they are considering opting out of the pension scheme as a result of the increases to contributions.

77% do not think that teaching is competitive with other professions in terms of salaries and remuneration;

changes to pay and pensions is a major concern for nearly three quarters of teachers.



Qualified teacher status



There is strong support for the retention of qualified teacher status (QTS) across the UK and for the retention of high quality initial teacher training (ITT).



81% believe the removal of QTS will undermine the provision of high quality education.



Behaviour and discipline



It is clear that the issue of pupil behaviour remains a concern for teachers but the vast majority have no confidence that Government measures to improve discipline will have any effect.



The survey found:



over three quarters of teachers believe there is a widespread problem with pupil behaviour in schools today;

nearly half of teachers believe there is a behaviour problem in their school;

lack of parental support, low aspirations and pupils not arriving at school ready to learn, were the top three causes of pupil indiscipline according to teachers;

an inability to follow rules, failure to complete work and a failure to bring equipment were the three biggest behaviour problems encountered by teachers.