School leaders in Wales call for more funding to combat COVID absences

NAHT Cymru in Wales has revealed the real impact COVID has had on schools.

The union has demanded a more “fairly-funded education system”.

Education in Wales continues to suffer from a lack of funding. NAHT Cymru has demanded that every school has a sustainable core budget that ensures effective teaching and learning for all needs.

Key objectives include curriculum and assessment, ALN reform, accountability, wellbeing and funding.

President of NAHT Cymru, Kerina Hanson, said: “It has been a tough couple of years for schools but our leaders have not hesitated to step up on behalf of our learners. It’s vital that they are offered the same support from government in return – especially as we enter the next phase of reform and recovery.

“Schools are under immense pressure – the government needs to do more to support them or it risks the system breaking down.”

NAHT Cymru has also published the results of a survey on primary school staff and COVID-related absences.

Between February 28^th and March 25^th, an average of 4 teachers, 6 teaching assistants and 3 other staff were absent.

The average daily cost to cover a teacher is £169, teaching assistant cover costs £78, while other staff cover can be in the region of £50 per day.

In Wales alone, there are 1,200 primary schools and costs will soon enter into the tens of thousands of pounds.

Until the end of March, schools could claim staff cover costs from the Local Government Hardship Fund. The Welsh government also put an additional 9% of funding into Local Authorities (2022/23) through the Revenue Support Grant to cover, amongst other budget pressures, the ongoing costs of COVID.

However many schools report that COVID-related cover costs have not been factored into the budget-setting discussions and fear finances will not be manageable.

NAHT Cymru director, Laura Doel, said: “School leaders are having to step back into the classroom to cover classes in a bid to save money. Even if the schools had the money, they are struggling to find supply cover.

“We want to see more action being taken to ease the pressure. There is no way schools can be expected to operate as ‘normal’ and keep up with the ambitious education reform agenda when many are still operating in crisis mode.”