Does the Welsh Government monitor the number of days lost through staff illness in schools across Wales and if so, how many days have been lost annually, from 2018 to 2024?
The Welsh Government collects information on teacher sickness absences from local authorities through the School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC). The table below shows the total number of days lost through Teacher Sickness Absence in schools in Wales 2017 to the academic year 2022/23. Up until and including 2020, data on teacher sickness absences were collected at an aggregated level from local authorities and covered teacher sickness absences over a calendar year. The SWAC was introduced in 2019 and has collected information on teacher sickness absences for academic year 2020/21 onwards.
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Total number of days lost through Teacher Sickness Absence in schools in Wales 2018 to 2022/23 (a) |
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Source |
Year |
Total Teacher Sickness Absence days |
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Local authority aggregated data collection (b) |
Calendar Year |
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2018 |
175,445 |
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2019 |
186,501 |
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2020 (d) |
145,521 |
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School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) (c) |
Academic Year |
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2020/21 (d) |
122,528 |
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2021/22 |
230,928 |
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2022/23 |
191,229 |
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(a) Includes teacher sickness absences only.
(b) Up until and including 2020 data on teacher sickness absences were collected at an aggregated level from local authorities and covered teacher sickness absences over a calendar year.
(c) The School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) was introduced in 2019 and has collected information on teacher sickness absences for academic year 2020/21 onwards.
(d) The local authority aggregated data collection for calendar year 2020 and SWAC teacher sickness absences data for 2020/21 cover a time period during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which affected how schools operated and recorded sickness absence. These figures do not include covid related absences.