Reducing workload for school practitioners: progress update

School Social Partnership Forum Members

Annwyl colleagues/gydweithwyr,

Supporting and growing our school workforce is central to the Welsh Government’s ambitions for education in Wales. I am committed to supporting and working in partnership with our education workforce and social partners to ensure that teaching is a respected, attractive and rewarding career.

This letter provides an update on the progress made in taking forward our 100-day priority to implement the recommendations of the Strategic Workload Co-ordination Group and to begin to reduce the bureaucratic burden on teachers. However, reducing workload is not simply a 100-day commitment. It is a priority that will shape the way we work throughout this term of government. That is why, alongside these immediate actions, I have also outlined wider measures to reduce the burden on education practitioners by cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and administrative processes, delivering on our broader manifesto commitment.

I am pleased that work to take forward the recommendations of the Strategic Workload Co-ordination Group is progressing well with your support.

The workload impact assessment (WIA) continues to embed across the Education Directorate. We will seek feedback from staff and partners over the Summer and early Autumn and refine the approach accordingly. We are taking early steps to broaden the use of the WIA across other Welsh Government departments, so that we can identify policies which impact on education staff and avoid unintended workload consequences. I am also pleased to note that some partner organisations, for example Estyn, have expressed their intent to undertake similar assessments, and we will continue to support and encourage this.

The Principles for Professional Engagement have been shared with key partners. I have asked my officials to review how they are being adopted and how structures for engagement are being embedded. I would be grateful to hear your views during the next meeting of the Schools Social Partnership Forum (SSPF).

We are working with the Institute of School Business Leaders (ISBL), the nationally recognised professional body, to deliver a second 12-month pilot project to support the learning and development of School Business Professionals (SBP) in our schools, which started in June 2026. As per the first pilot, which supported 50 SBPs across Wales and ran from June 2025 for 12 months, the second pilot has recruited a further 50 SBPs and aims to assess and support development needs of the profession, provide coaching and mentoring alongside professional accreditation, and support the creation of SBL Champions to provide peer review and system leadership.

Finally, reporting requirements in relation to Welsh Government grants is being kept under review and work is also ongoing with local authorities to implement new school funding regulations, to provide more consistency, comparability and transparency.

You will be aware that we are taking action to strengthen the School Teachers Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document in relation to leaders’ protected time. I am grateful for your constructive engagement to agree changes and actions to support our school leaders. We will be consulting on the proposed changes in due course.
I have also recently had the opportunity to engage with my Headteacher Advisory Group to understand some of their concerns and suggestions that could support reduction in workload.

I was pleased to lay regulations recently to make the provision of a sixth INSET day a permanent entitlement. I am acutely aware of the need for our practitioners to have time to engage in professional learning and professional dialogue. I hope that the revised guidance will provide more clarity to schools and local authorities on our expectations for the use of INSET.

We are currently engaging with an OECD project to learn from other countries how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to support workload reduction. Work is also being taken forward to implement Estyn recommendations on the effective use of AI.

You will be aware that we have consulted on revised professional standards for teachers, leaders and those assisting teaching. The new standards will have explicit descriptors and questions that will ensure that all practitioners consider and reflect on their own workload and wellbeing and the staff that they support.

It is important that all parts of the system play their part, alongside the Welsh Government, in reducing school practitioner workload. I am pleased that WJEC, working closely with Qualifications Wales, is acting on concerns about the workload associated with the delivery of new GCSEs, which will also improve learner well-being. In addition to the changes they have recently announced in four subjects, they are now considering whether some of those changes should also apply to non-examined units in other qualifications.

I am also committed to considering a wider range of measures as part of improved terms and conditions, with the aim of improving recruitment and retention. We will consider how flexible working and changes to planning, preparation and assessment time could be taken forward. You will also be aware that we are also taking steps to address learner behaviour that also impacts on practitioners’ workload.

Taken together, this package of work is intended to support a more sustainable education workforce, where workload is actively managed and unnecessary burdens are reduced.

The newly established Workload Co-ordination Group, which is a sub-group of the SSPF, will provide a dedicated forum to drive forward this work collaboratively. Continued partnership working will support a more systematic and joined-up approach to identifying workload pressures across the system and to shape and prioritise any agreed actions, ensuring that the views of practitioners are at the heart of our decisions.

I would like to thank members for their continued engagement and commitment to this agenda. I look forward to ongoing discussion through as we take this work forward.

Yn gywir,

Anna Brychan AS/MS
Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language