Get the biggest stories sent straight to your inbox Sign up for regular updates and breaking news from WalesOnline Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Exhausted, stressed, battling slashed funds and unable to switch off.

This is how head teachers in Wales say they feel as they struggle with “inadequate funding” and the pressure of getting good results against a back drop of sliced budgets and the incoming new curriculum.

Cuts to other public services have left schools doing more than just educating young people at a time when staff numbers have been pared to the bone.

“It’s just the unknown of what’s next and what’s going to threaten you. There’s always something,” said one successful high school head.

“I’m at a stage where it’s just pure exhaustion and I don’t know how much longer I can keep going because it’s just draining, every minute.

“If you don’t get two years of good results the pressure is on. Heads can be moved on if they don’t get results.

“Funding is a major issue. Finding funds for human resources is the biggest worry. You can’t get the support staff or the teachers you want .

“The worry is not pupils really, it’s more things like staff going sick and trying to make ends meet and cuts to social services which have an impact.

“I have been in school until 10pm some nights waiting for social services to come for kids who don’t have anywhere to go because they have been chucked out (of home) or have mental health issues.”

Another, who also did not want to be identified, said he barely relaxed for a week over the six-week summer holiday because of lead up to and aftermath of exam results.

“There is a lot of high stakes pressure and finance continues to be a huge pressure, especially if you have to lose valued staff," he added.

“I can see money coming in dropping and you have the pressure of the community on your shoulders. It can be hard to switch off and stressful.”

One head said growing mental health problems among young people - partly caused by demands for results filtering down - was an added pressure as schools don’t have staff trained to help and can no longer make referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental health Services.

Another admitted he sometimes drank to cope.

Another blamed pace of change in Wales saying high schools were dealing with reformed GCSEs and A levels at the same time as trying to prepare for the new curriculum.

"Lack of adequate school funding is certainly my biggest source of stress as a head," she said.

"I am committed to doing the best for all young people in my school. This can only happen by having a secure, well-qualified body of staff. However, the reality is that budget cuts mean staffing cuts and doing ever more with less is not an option.

"This situation has led to the well-publicised mental health crisis for young people and increasing difficulties with staff retention and teacher recruitment. It is usually the head teacher who carries this stress and responsibility. "

Recently retired primary head teacher Colin Skinner said heads are “unable to cope with impossible demands set from on high by a range of bureaucratic people who have no idea what schools bring to their communities”.

Launching an unprecedented public attack on school inspectorate body Estyn Mr Skinner, a head teacher in Cardiff for 22 years before retiring from Roath Park Primary last summer, said it brings “fear and dread into every classroom”.

What is Estyn?

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“We have to accept that we have a real crisis in our schools and that we need to address this issue seriously and now.

“Head teacher wellbeing is not only necessary, it is a fundamental human right,” said Mr Skinner, who was New Directions National Primary Head teacher of the Year in 2015.

“We have developed a blame culture here in Wales and this is not helped by the crippling accountability structures that all schools in Wales are subject to.

“From the Welsh Government through to the four local consortia and on to the 22 local education authorities. All bring pressure to bear if schools are found wanting in some way.

“Added to this blame culture is Estyn, the shark of the system who bring fear and dread into every classroom when it visits periodically. This stifles creativity and narrows the teaching and learning so that it fits into what Estyn sees as successful schools.”

The pressure has led to growing numbers going off sick, some with stress.

More than eight years and 10 months of head teacher working days were lost to absence in Wales between September 2015 and September 2018 with 108 heads going off for six weeks or more in that period for varying reasons.

(Image: iStockphoto)

The figures, from councils around Wales, were obtained by Mr Skinner under Freedom of Information requests.

And the problem could be even bigger as five of Wales’s 22 local education authorities have not yet responded to the former head teacher’s request for information via the consultancy he now works with, Introteach/CyfleDysgu.

Of the 17 that did respond Gwynedd had the highest number of head teachers off for six weeks or more at 15. That was followed by Carmarthenshire with 13 and 10 each in Pembrokeshire and Powys.

Describing the figures as a “national disgrace” Mr Skinner said he knows of head teachers who have been off more than a year with stress.

Bodies representing heads called for more support for school leaders rather than more challenge,

School funding is “totally inadequate”, Welsh Government’s aspiration to create a world leading education system is impossible without more cash and, heads are being made ill by pressure, warned Tim Pratt, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru.

As Wales approaches the biggest change in education in a generation with a draft of the New Curriculum expected in April 2019, heads are under pressure and scrutiny as never before he warned: “There is a point at which the pressure becomes so intense that the job is simply unsustainable. We are at that point.

“The level of funding to schools in Wales is totally inadequate. The insufficiency of funding has a direct impact on the number of staff they are able to employ and the opportunities they are able to provide to pupils.

“It makes it incredibly difficult to sustain existing results let alone to improve standards further.

“The Welsh government needs to wake up to the fact that head teachers are being placed in an impossible position which is having a significant impact on their wellbeing.

“We cannot possibly achieve our aspiration to become one of the world’s great education systems without the vital resource of sufficient funding.”

Rob Williams, National Association of Head Teachers Policy Director Cymru, added: “The current scale of reform, coupled with the pressures upon funding creates tangible, additional pressures upon support staff, teachers and especially on school leaders.

“The workload strategy from Welsh Government was a welcome start, but much more needs to be done for leadership, particularly if we are to secure the best candidates into headship and other formal leadership roles.

“Headship can and should be the most rewarding of roles and everyone understands that stress is a part and parcel of day-to-day life.

“However, our findings tell us is that it is the volume, variety and frequency of pressures facing school leaders that currently squeezes out those periods for recovery which are so essential in order to develop a productive and resilient workforce.

“We would urge Welsh Government to invest in our leadership talent and empower them to lead – the best education systems do not recruit talent and then constrain them with top-down policy or an overly centralised approach to school leadership.”

In a statement Estyn said supporting schools to improve is a priority:“Our inspection framework is designed to support schools that are causing concern, drive improvement and encourage innovation.

“We share many examples of effective practice and have recently hosted several national conferences to support head teachers. Our myth busting work has also helped to clarify what our inspectors are really looking for - and to dispel uninformed views about our approach to inspection.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Securing, nurturing and inspiring school leaders now and for the future is a priority in our National Mission for Education in Wales.

“This year we have also launched a National Academy for Educational Leadership, reforming the way we support our school leaders, which we’re supporting with £1m of funding next year.

“There are statutory measures in place to support all employees, including teaching staff, to maintain their health and wellbeing and ensure they have a suitable work/life balance.

“We understand local authorities provide a confidential occupational health and counselling service that is open to all employees, including teachers who may wish to approach their local authority directly to discuss services in their area.”

“The Minister has already announced a range of reforms to accountability which will be introduced along with the new curriculum, with a view to reducing unnecessary burdens on schools.”