Details of a new national model for agreeing teachers’ pay and conditions have been set out by Education Secretary Kirsty Williams.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Welsh Government will take responsibility for this area at the end of September, with teachers’ pay and conditions being set by the Welsh Government from September 2019.
After an eight week consultation, the Education Secretary today confirmed that the model would see teachers unions, employers and the Welsh Government coming together on an annual basis in a Partnership Forum.
This new Partnership Forum would be able to propose changes to a draft remit for pay and conditions and set the agenda for any other issues that needed to be considered.
Following consideration of the Forum’s views, Welsh Ministers would submit a ‘final’ remit for scrutiny and analysis by an independent expert body – the Welsh Pay Review Body - prior to taking any final decisions.
Listening to concerns listed in responses to the consultation, Kirsty Williams also confirmed that a public consultation stage would not form part of the annual decision making process. Instead a written consultation would take place with key stakeholders only.
The Education Secretary said:
“This is an opportunity to develop a truly national model that enshrines a national approach to supporting and elevating the status of the teaching profession in Wales.
“What we want is a model that brings unions, employers and Welsh Government together to agree a fair, sensible and sustainable way forward – with the benefit of advice from an independent expert body.
“We’ll now start talking through the finer details of how this new model is going to work and we enter into these discussions in the spirit of cooperation.”