SCHOOL leaders and teachers in Wales will go on strike over pay and funding.

Here's what we know about all the strike actions in education in Wales.

NAHT Cymru

NAHT Cymru, which represents leaders in the majority of schools in Wales, announced today – January 16 – that they will be going on strike.

55 per cent of the union’s membership turned out to vote in the ballot – beating the minimum of 50 per cent needed.

Out of those 55 per cent, 95 per cent voted yes to carrying out action short of strike and 75 per cent voting yes to striking.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “The results of this ballot are unprecedented, and reflect the sheer strength of feeling among school leaders in Wales that the system is broken. They feel they have no choice but to stand up and fight for themselves and for the children and staff in their schools.

“School leaders are relentlessly reasonable people and they have held their schools together throughout a decade of underfunding of education, eroded salaries, and a pandemic. But our members are telling me now that they cannot continue to run their schools in the current circumstances.

“Insufficient pay has caused a severe recruitment and retention crisis, and the lack of resources, funding, services and staff means that the education and support that can be given to pupils is suffering as a consequence.

"School leaders are doing their best with what little they have, but with their own salaries expected to be worth as much as 22 per cent less this year than in 2010, many are reaching breaking point."

They will now discuss what action is to look like and when it will take place.

Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said: “The continuous education reform agenda, issues with recruitment and retention, and the repeated underfunding of schools has left our education system at breakpoint.

"Our leaders are being asked to do more with less, schools are losing staff, and those left are struggling to keep up with the demands of the job.

 “This result should act as a wake-up call to the Welsh Government that their ambitious reform agenda is endangering the education of learners across Wales.

"Our focus must be on delivering the new curriculum and ALN legislation and any vanity projects, like reforming the school day/year for example, need to be kicked into the long grass. An urgent review of the middle tier, its funding and its value must also form part of the discussion.

“The Local Authority employers need to either realise the plight of schools and work with us to address the issues or sit on the side-lines while we address the burdens placed on the system with the government and fight to free up the much-needed funds to enable our schools to run properly.

“We need to invest in education where it offers the most value for our learners, and that’s in the workforce. It is only with highly skilled, quality teachers and teaching assistants in our classrooms, and strong leaders in our schools, that we can deliver for our children.”

MORE NEWS:

National Education Union

Teachers will also be walking out after 58 per cent of the National Education Union in Wales voted in the ballot, with 92 per cent of those voting favour of strike action.

There will be seven days of walkouts in February and March, according to the largest education union in the UK.

However, any individual school will only be affected by four of the days, it added.

The strikes will begin on February 1 with more than 23,000 schools in England and Wales are expected to be affected, the NEU has said.

Here is the full list of proposed strike days are:

• Wednesday, February 1: all eligible members in England and Wales

• Tuesday, February, 14: all eligible members in England and Wales

• Tuesday, February 28: all eligible members in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions

• Wednesday, March 1: all eligible members in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and Eastern regions

• Thursday, March 2: all eligible members in London, South East and South West regions

• Wednesday, March 15: all eligible members in England and Wales.

• Thursday, March 16: all eligible members in England and Wales