Laura Doel, Director of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “This report sadly reflects our own findings – school are suffering from more than a decade of austerity, struggling to keep up with the huge demands placed upon them with less staff and less money to pay them.  This is having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of school leaders who are shouldering the burden of responsibility.  For too long the profession has battled on but sadly we are now seeing workload and accountability take its toll on recruitment and retention of school staff.

“Teachers and leaders salaries in Wales are worth 22% less than they were a decade ago; fewer middle leaders are aspiring into leadership roles and chronic underfunding means that our members are telling us they are considering making support staff redundant and reducing teaching time as a result.  It is no wonder those left in schools are burned out.  Unless action is taken urgently to restore pay and make school leadership an attractive proposition for teaching professionals, the school leadership supply pipeline is going to run dry. The fact that leaders in particular are reporting high levels of stress should come as a real wake-up call to the Welsh Government and Local Authorities.”