£1.28m to be invested in reducing teacher workload in Wales

An investment of £1.28 million has been announced by Wales’ education secretary Kirsty Williams, which aims to help reduce unnecessary workloads for teachers.

The funding will support the creation of new school business managers in eleven local authority areas.

The two-year pilot will see groups of primary schools having a school business manager to provide dedicated support for head teachers and teachers so they can better focus on raising standards and the needs of pupils.

School business managers can help organise and run a range of non-teaching activity in a school, from finance, administration, and procurement, freeing up head teachers and staff to focus on leadership and teaching.

The project is part of a range of Welsh Government actions to help address teachers’ concerns over their workload, including a new guide launched today on how teachers can reduce unnecessary activity, with advice on planning lessons, marking and assessing and collecting data.

Williams said: “I am delighted to announce funding of almost £1.3 million to fund new school business managers to take on some of the non-teaching responsibilities. This will free up heads and teachers to focus on what matters most – their pupils.

“We are working closely with the profession to help teachers be the best they can be for the benefit of pupils. I want to get the basics right and let teachers get on with teaching so we can continue to raise standards.

“Reducing unnecessary workload and enabling teachers to spend more time supporting pupils’ learning is so important. The resources developed with unions and others and published by Estyn today will help ensure that workload issues are considered and we will continue to take action in this area.”