The Welsh Government is committed to ensuring that all learners in Wales receive an outstanding education in schools that are staffed by highly skilled practitioners. Every learner must have the opportunity to fulfil their ambitions. This is critical for Wales’ success as a nation and underpins our commitment to develop a new Strategic Education Workforce Plan.
It is clear that, in Wales, along with countries from across the world, we are seeing ongoing issues in teacher recruitment and retention, alongside concerns around the well-being of teachers, school leaders and support staff. In addition, society’s expectations of what we expect from our schools has changed. The cost-of-living crisis, increasing complex health needs of learners, and changes in society’s expectations of what schools should do, are all having an impact. This is a picture with which we are already familiar and global research by the OECD has revealed that nations worldwide are struggling with these pressing issues. Both within Wales and internationally change is happening at a rapid pace. There is an urgent need to develop a vision for the future of teaching in Wales to provide a sustainable and appreciated workforce.
This vision needs to redefine the professionalism and identity of teachers and all who work in education. It should encompass how the workforce can be supported by wider society, capitalising on the benefits of collaboration. Our refreshed vision for the future needs to drive developments that reflect the essence of Welsh society, meet the needs of our education system and empower future educators.
It is vital that our future aspirations are co-constructed with the education sector and informed by wider engagement. This project with the OECD has provided opportunities to engage with a broad range of professionals across education and government. The opportunities to collaborate with international partners throughout the study have been invaluable and will continue to inform our future thinking.
The outcomes of this report will spark a national dialogue about the future of teaching in Wales to reset and transform the profession. This is an opportunity to develop an aspirational teaching workforce, supported and valued by society. We are grateful to the OECD team for launching our journey by bringing educators together to gather feedback, beginning to map out our next steps and helping to lay the foundations to inform our new Strategic Education Workforce Plan. This plan will be co-constructed with the profession, presenting opportunities to address the key themes emerging from this research to strengthen, empower and support our workforce.
We are grateful to stakeholders who have contributed to this project so far and encourage all practitioners to have a voice in shaping our next generation of teachers in Wales.
Georgina Haarhoff,
Director of Education, Welsh Government