Education Minister Kirsty Williams has today (Thursday, November 28) launched Wales’ National Workforce Development Plan which focuses on school staffing and recognising and rewarding teachers’ work.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The plan also outlines plans to develop an early career support package which would see new teachers getting tailored support throughout the first four years of their career as opposed to the current system where supports ends after just one successful year of teaching. The package would see the introduction of a national dedicated coaching and mentoring programme and the development of a new Masters level qualification to support newly qualified teachers as well as more experienced practioners.
The plan has been created to help introduce effective workforce planning systems to ensure there is a sufficient number of highly skilled teachers in Wales, including those working through the medium of Welsh, and those needed to fill the wide range of Additional Learning Needs (ALN) roles.
The document includes plans to develop ways of ensuring there are quality supply teachers available to cover Welsh schools.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said:
“Our national mission for education seeks to raise standards, reduce the attainment gap and deliver an education system that Wales is proud of. To do this we need a high-quality education workforce that is vibrant, engaged and committed to continuous learning for all.
“The workforce development plan supports our aspirations to ensure our schools have the workforce they need, that our teachers are recognised for their work and that our teaching workforce is fairly rewarded and supported to be the best they can be.”
The 39-page document sets out the Welsh Government’s plans and measures of success across key areas of workforce development, including:
- teachers' pay and conditions
- improving workload
- increasing the amount of Welsh-medium teachers
- shaping schools’ workforce to support the introduction of the new Curriculum
- recruitment and retention
“This plan sets the vision and direction to support our aspirations for what we want the teaching profession to be here in Wales,”
the Minister continued.
“I want teaching to be seen as an aspirational, attractive profession and one that attracts and retains high-quality individuals.
“Education in Wales has never been more important and it is clear to me that our valued workforce is critical to our success.”
You can download the full plan here: https://gov.wales/workforce-development-plan-2019-to-2021