NAHT NI, the school leaders’ union, has today formally declared a trade dispute with employers and the Department of Education - warning that the education system has now failed in its duty to provide even the most basic protections for leaders, leaving them unable to carry out the work children depend on.

School leaders describe facing insurmountable pressures including unmanageable workload, chronic underfunding, the special educational needs (SEN) crisis and its implications for safeguarding, crumbling estates and an escalation of complex complaints.

NAHT NI says that together, these have made the core role of school leadership unsafe, unsustainable and professionally unviable.

The union has given employers 14 working days to respond, and has requested the Labour Relations Agency to facilitate collective conciliation.

Dr Graham Gault, national secretary of NAHTNI, said: “Against all odds, schools remain bastions of joy, safety and stability for children in Northern Ireland, and school leaders have been holding back what feels like fire and flood from every direction to protect them. But the pressures have now become overwhelming and insurmountable.

“The system has failed to provide adequate protections for school leaders. It has not protected their time, their workload, their wellbeing, their safety, or their professional judgement. Without that protection, leaders cannot protect children.

“This dispute is about one thing only: making it possible for school leaders to return to their core role - leading learning, teaching and safeguarding of children. We cannot continue to ask leaders to sacrifice their own health and safety to compensate for a system that is no longer functioning.”

Joanne Whyte, president of NAHT NI, said: “Our school leaders have nothing left to give. They have held the system together through sheer commitment and compassion, but the weight on their shoulders has become intolerable.

“When leaders are firefighting broken buildings, carrying unmanageable SEN risks, covering classes to save budgets and managing a rising tide of governance and complaints pressures, they cannot give children the leadership they deserve.

“This dispute is not about pay, it is about protecting children’s education. We are urging parents and communities to stand with their school leaders. They are exhausted, they are on their knees, and they need the support of the public to ensure schools remain the safe, stable, well‑led places children rely on every day.”

NAHT NI notes that the education minister has already confirmed that the Department cannot deliver essential workload‑relief measures, acknowledging ‘extreme financial constraints’ and ‘bleak financial prospects’.

The union says this is a clear admission that the system can no longer provide meaningful protection for school leaders and, therefore, cannot guarantee the conditions children need to thrive.

To restore safety, stability and sustainability, and resolve the dispute, NAHT NI has set out essential measures which need to be taken, including:

• immediate protections against further workload intensification
• ring‑fenced funding for genuine workload relief
• emergency intervention in SEN and safeguarding pressures
• reform of complaints systems
• clear working-time guidance for school leaders
• a funded plan to address critical estate failures

If no progress is made within 14 working days, NAHT(NI) will move to the next stage of its industrial mandate.