Wales PLASC - Teachers and Support Staff

This guide covers the Teachers and Support Staff page, where you report aggregated staffing figures (Headcounts and Hours) as they exist on Census Day.

PLASC Series

This is the fifth guide in our series on completing the Wales PLASC. You can access the other guides in the series here:

• Wales PLASC - General Guide and Overview 
• Wales PLASC - The Classes Page 
• Wales PLASC - Meals and School Characteristics 
• Wales PLASC - Pupil Counts 
• Wales PLASC - Teachers and Support Staff (This guide)
• Wales PLASC - Teaching of Welsh 

Permissions

• To access and edit this data, you must have the School: Data Returns: Administer permission.

If you do not have this permission, ask your office staff or administrator to add it to your profile for you.

What is the Teachers and Support Staff Page?

While the School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) collects individual staff data, the PLASC return still requires aggregated headcounts of your staff.

This page records the total number of staff and, where applicable, their total hours. It is divided into three sections:

• Teachers Not Teaching: (Secondary & Middle only)
• Teachers: (All qualified teachers)
• Support Staff: (All support staff)

Navigation

• Go to School > Data > Export > Data Returns.
• Select the PLASC
• Select Teachers and Support Staff from the left-hand menu.

Using the Auto-Calculator

You can trigger a calculator to populate this page based on the records held in your Staff Contracts and the Timetable on census day to help reduce the amount of manual data entry.

Important Warnings

• Overwrite Risk: Clicking "Recalculate" will wipe any manual changes you have made to this page.
• Data Source: If your staff contracts in Arbor are not up to date (e.g., missing business roles or incorrect hours), the calculator will produce incorrect figures.
• Manual Validation: Once the calculator has run, you must scrutinise the results for accuracy and completeness.

How to use

• Click the Recalculate All Data link in the Info Banner.
• Click Yes
• The system will pull data from active contracts and the timetable to fill the rows.

Manually Reviewing and Fixing Staff Data

After the calculator has run, you should check the results for accuracy and completeness. Click on a field in one of the tables to edit it on a slide-over before clicking Save to confirm the changes.

Teachers Not Teaching (Secondary & Middle Only)

This section records teachers who are present in school but are not teaching a class during the selected census time (usually Period 3). This includes teachers taking PPA time or performing management duties.

• Headcount: The number of staff fitting this specific description.

• Inclusion: You must include the headteacher in this count if they were present but not teaching during that specific period.

• Manual Edit: Clicking Teachers not Teaching opens the Edit Count of Teachers not Teaching slide-over.

Teachers (All Schools)

This section records all qualified teachers employed at the school, regardless of whether they are teaching at that specific moment.

What to enter

This section displays a table of teachers aggregated by Category, Sex, and Tenure.

• Mandatory Fields: You must provide a Headcount for every category. If the Tenure is "Part-time", you must also provide the total Part-time hours (total directed hours per week) for that group.

• Uniqueness Rule: Each combination of Category, Sex, and Tenure must be unique; the system will block you from saving duplicate combinations.

• Inclusions: Include staff temporarily absent for less than a term, peripatetic teachers, and relief staff filling a temporary vacancy.

• Exclusions: Exclude staff on long-term absence (one term or longer), unpaid helpers, and relief staff covering short-term absences.

How to add a record

If the auto-calculator misses a teacher or group of teachers (e.g., a supply teacher not in your contract system), click the +Add button to add a new record. 

Note: if you already have a teacher with the same category, sex and tenure identifiers, edit the existing record instead and increase the Headcount.

• Select the Category, Sex, and Tenure.
• Enter the Headcount and Hours.
• Click Save Changes.

How to edit or delete a record

• Click on the record you wish to edit
• Make the required changes on the slide-over
• Click Save or Delete as required

Support Staff (All Schools)

This section reports on non-teaching staff, such as Teaching Assistants (TAs), Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs), and administrative staff.

What to enter

• Support Category: You must map staff to the correct Welsh Government code (e.g., Higher Level Teaching Assistant, Nursery Assistant, Business Manager).
• Headcount: The number of staff in that category.

How to add a record

If the auto-calculator misses support staff, click the +Add button to add a new record. 

How to edit or delete a record

• Click on the record you wish to edit
• Make the required changes on the slide-over
• Click Save or Delete as required

Important Notes

• One-to-One Support: Support staff who are present specifically to provide one-to-one support for a pupil must be included in these counts.
• Valid Categories: If you are entering data manually, ensure you select the correct "Support Category" from the dropdown, as this maps directly to the required Census code.

Note: If you manually add records, you must ensure the "Support Category" matches the valid codes for PLASC.