Wales' school days and holidays 'need rethink'

A major rethink is needed about how schools work in Wales - including the pattern of school days and holidays - a group of experts have said.

Powers to set teachers' pay and conditions were transferred to the Welsh Government on September 30.

An independent panel chaired by Professor Mick Waters has been considering how the system should work in Wales.

It says pay ranges should initially stay in line with those in England.

The report says there is an "urgent need" to promote and celebrate teaching to counter a "relentless and unrewarding grind" image.

• Teachers face 'unfair pressure' online

• PM hints at pay rise funding for teachers in Wales

• 'Too much' varied Welsh Bacc teaching

It also says a new pay and conditions framework should reflect an increasing professionalism amongst teachers, with individual teachers given more responsibility and freedom.

But it highlights major concerns about teacher workload - describing "frustration, disappointment, pressure and fatigue associated with many parts of their working life".

The independent panel is urging for a greater celebration of teaching

It says the workload issue can only be properly addressed by looking at the wider structures of schooling, calling for a major Commission to be established.

"They are running to keep up because the system takes on ever greater expectation within the same infrastructure that has existed since 1870," the panel said.

"The way our schools work, the routines, the patterns and the systems have remained pretty much unchanged since schooling for every child began during the 'factory age' when the way they worked mirrored the working life at the time"

The panel says a commission to 're-imagine schooling in Wales' could look at whether changing the pattern of school days, terms and holidays could could lead to changes which are better-suited to modern family life and work.

The report also calls for:

• 100 specialist teachers to be appointed as experts in different areas of teaching

• A 'School Leadership for Wales' new role to be considered with headteachers deployed to where their expertise would benefit

• Greater clarity and transparency on pay

• Removing the discretion given to governors to increase headteachers' pay

The Education Secretary Kirsty Williams has said she would consider the proposals in detail.

Welsh Ministers will set teacher pay for the first time in September 2019.