Our thanks to the 137 respondents who completed our short workload and wellbeing survey in June 2026. These are two hugely significant issues in Wales currently and it is really helpful to have contemporary data to use in responses to the Government in term of pay and conditions.
Unfortunately, the overall picture remains bleak, mirroring what we found in
2025. The situation is compounded by underfunding and a lack of resources. This is not helped by the fact that we have an antiquated local authority structure that retains around 21% of the education funding, with schools seeing little of this in terms of support or additional resources.
This 13.3% sample return rate is statistically significant in terms of outlining general patterns and trends (a comparison is also made with the 2025 survey). Whilst the tables and graphs provide objective, comparable data, it is the qualitative comments towards the end this survey that are so alarming.
Being a headteacher, deputy head, assistant head, ALNCo or business leader should be a rewarding and fulfilling role to which teachers aspire, but this no longer seems the case. The protections being put in place for school leaders in the STPC(W)D for weekends and holidays are a start, but reforms need to go a lot further if we are to address this stagnation of the leadership pipeline.
Moving forward, our campaign for 2026-27 is to continue to stress to the Welsh Government that both pay and working conditions are a serious concern for both teachers and school leaders. This survey will provide us with powerful data to argue our case with the IWPRB and Plaid Cymru Government.
Download the survey results here