HEAD teachers’ union NAHT Cymru criticised the Welsh government’s Welsh Language & Education Bill today for its impact on teacher workloads, saying it puts the “horse before the cart.”

NAHT Cymru’s Laura Doel said it was extremely disappointing that the devolved government had introduced the Bill without any assessment of how it would affect the workload of school leaders, teachers and teaching assistants.

“The government’s pledge to introduce a tool to assess the workload impact of new legislation on schools was an important part of the education unions’ agreement to end our industrial action.

“Much more investment and support will be needed if this worthy aspiration is to become a reality.”

Education unions sent a joint letter to the Welsh cabinet today detailing their concerns about workloads and the lack of a workload impact assessment.

During the discussion of the Bill, Senedd members also warned a shortage of teachers could undermine a target to reach a million Welsh speakers and double daily use of the language by 2050.

The Welsh government was asked to comment.