Glamorgan teachers walk out over continued threats to their welfare

Teachers at Llantwit Major School in the Vale of Glamorgan will take the first of four planned days of strike action on Thursday 26 March. Despite over a year of union negotiations, members of NASUWT - The Teachers' Union at the school have rapidly worsening concerns over workload, pupil behaviour, and their own health, safety and welfare.

A Central South Consortium review of the school in September 2024 highlighted serious issues with pupil behaviour that teachers feel have not been resolved. The school has failed to implement an effective behaviour policy that keeps staff and pupils safe, meaning that pupils who physically assault and verbally abuse their teachers are kept at school, creating health and safety risks.

School leaders continue to ask teachers to complete tasks that are not included in their contracted working time. This includes contact time with pupils such as teaching during form time.

Matt Wrack, General Secretary for NASUWT - The Teachers' Union, said:

"Teachers at Llantwit Major High School are being used and abused by school leaders. They are forced to work more than their contracted time and forced to work with violent pupils without safeguards from management. This is a school - not a Victorian workhouse. All these teachers are asking for is basic workplace rights.

"We have spent over a year negotiating and even cancelling strike action as a gesture of goodwill, but that goodwill has not been returned. Though we remain open to talks with leaders, those talks must be undertaken in good faith and result in meaningful improvements for teachers."

Neil Butler, National Official for Wales, said:

"We have serious concerns about the welfare of teachers at Llantwit Major. It's bad enough that they are overworked and subject to abuse in the workplace, but they are now also at risk of redundancy. The consultation will begin on our first day of strike action.

"It's time to ask some difficult questions about this school. Why is there a leadership team of thirteen managers, but teacher workload continues to increase? The current headteacher came in at a time when the school had a £600,000 reserve but now the school now blames redundancies on a £650,000 deficit. Where has that money gone, and why has the headteacher still had three pay increases in that time?

"We have repeatedly requested school budget details from the governing body but they have not supplied them. Are they attempting to hide something? Why will they not engage? And why is the school telling parents that the strike action is over a dispute on PPA entitlement, when our legal documentation blatantly states otherwise? Something is not right here.

"These leaders seem to care little that their employees are unwell with anxiety and now at risk of losing their jobs. As employers, they would do well to remember that they have a duty of care."