Govt announces huge cut to schools funding, redundancies

[noblegiraffe]

Yesterday the government announced that there would be huge cuts to schools funding and this would mean larger class sizes, less support for SEND pupils and a smaller subject offering.

You might have missed this as it was framed as a generous pay rise for teachers.

This pay rise will be massively below inflation and therefore represent a large pay cut for experienced teachers, where ‘experienced’ means that they have been teaching for 5 years. The pay rise for new teachers is well below (due to inflation) what was promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto as necessary to tackle the teacher recruitment crisis. schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-announces-5-pay-rise-for-most-teachers-in-2022-23/

However, poor as the pay offering is, the critical issue is that the government isn’t going to fund it. Schools would need to fund these pay rises from their existing budgets, which will mean that either teachers don’t get the pay rise (this happens) or there will be cuts and redundancies in schools, or both.

School funding itself will only rise by 1.9% which, as everyone is acutely aware, will not be enough to deal with the across-the-board price rises. schoolsweek.co.uk/school-per-pupil-funding-to-rise-by-only-1-9-per-cent-next-year/

Schools have already made redundancies, cuts to SEN provision and subject provision over the last 12 years of dire education funding. We are now cutting deep into the bone of educational provision.

So when the government talk about accepting in full the pay recommendation from the pay review body whose hands the Treasury tied, or about selfish unions and greedy teachers, in the end it’s going to be the kids who are losing out, when their class sizes increase, their SEN provision is reduced, they can’t take the subjects that they want, and their school can’t provide them with a qualified teacher.

Thank you for raising this, I would never know from yesterdays headlines! I was 100% behind the strike already anyway, but I dont really know what can I do as a parent?

For us, I suspect it will be the nurse, the counsellor, the mental health lead and the mentors. We've been really frugal and kept them so far.
We were intending to recruit another mentor. That's been scrapped.
Class sizes are up. Non contact time is down. I can't guarantee that the students who need support will get it because we don't have the TAs.

Is that the white paper that will force all schools to become academies by 2030?

@RockandRollsuicide

You are proving @noblegiraffe's point.
Reduced funding means SEND provision is reduced further. School staff have less and less capacity to support their children in their care.

To put this in real terms, my TA spent an hour last week fixing classroom chairs that have had screws pop out, and also the blind that just fell off the wall and meant the children next to the window were blinded by the sun.

I’m so sorry for your experience and think it’s brilliant that you advocate for your daughter, a significant minority do not.
However, it is wrong to suggest teachers do not know about sen and have no training. On my PGCE, I also spent a week in a special needs school and completed a masters level unit on sen which accounted for about 20% of my qualification.
There is a problem with sen provision in mainstream schools but that is due to lack of funding and huge class sizes where teachers are often juggling the needs of 8 or 9 send pupils and the varying needs of 22 others.
I’m not dismissing your experience as it sounds awful, but want to reassure you that it is not the norm in our profession or at least I sincerely hope it isn’t.

Oh boy! I'm a TA, considering finishing my degree and training to be a teacher. My pay is terrible (typical for the role), and rising living costs will see a lot of experienced people leaving IMO.

Schools facing budget cuts will consider cutting staff, cutting training, cutting resources. All of which negatively impacts on childrens' education, especially those who struggle to access it. Our Government won't care, as it likely won't affect their families.

However, @RockandRollsuicide I take issue with your views on SEN provision. I have worked in 3 primary schools over my TA career so far, and they take SEN v.seriously. The biggest struggle many children with SEN and their families have is being in a setting that does not suit their needs - but they have to stay until more appropriate provision (eg special school) has a space. I see 1-2-1 TAs devoted to giving a child as much enrichment and appropriate education as they can. I see pastoral and inclusion staff who do their best to support everyone in a family, and ensure everyone feels listened to and valued - also signposting to anything they know of to help.

And yes, there are some schools that are abominable at catering for people with SEN. Please don't imply all schools do this, as it just isn't true.

I will be voting to strike. I have been a teacher for 25 years and this is the very worst it has been. I have spent a lot of my own money on papering over cracks and our school is losing staff next week too. I will be voting for a fully funded proper pay rise which includes more experienced staff like me. No way should schools be asked to fund this. It’s just smoke and mirrors. In the end, if we don’t step up and take action, we’re complicit in this bollocks.

I think this is when everyone working in the public sector must push back and say there is nothing left to cut. Ausyrrity has cut everything to the bone. There is only the bone left to cut. Hopefully if Liz Truss gets elected, she will be so terrible that we will get a labour government who will reverse it. I am very concerned about all facilities such as schools, NHS, infrastructure, etc etc etc. Sadly in the UK, noone is advocating the type of measures adopted in France where inflation is much lower. The only way of managing this inflation is by controlling energy prices. Interest rates will have to rise because of the US but without shifting the tax burden onto large corporations, things will only get worse and worse.

Support staff on the NJC scale also rumoured to be getting 5% backdated to April 2022...

3 days of training, and only shadowing (was there anything scientific and substantial in terms of what different neurodiversities are and how they affect children, sensory differences, executive functioning, what is required for these kids not to have their self-esteem trashed, for example? How some conditions manifest completely differently in boys and girls, what adjustments people with these different conditions might require?) is utterly, utterly inadequate.

IME SENCOs are better with severe learning disabilities but have no clue about many other conditions which also impact a child and them reaching their potential just as much. Schools definitely take the view that if a child is hitting academic targets and isn't disruptive they are fine. There is pretty much zero consideration of their responsibility for wellbeing.

A PGCE should include in-depth assessed study on this. And that's just thinking of neurodiversity, let alone the many, many other SEN children may have. SENCOs should have to do an additional qualification on top of this.

It is a disgrace that this essential training - and a decent level of education in general - is not being funded.

You're making some really big assumptions here. I work in a one form entry primary in a deprived area. We buy in SALT, SPLD, regularly commission EP support, are all Team Teach trained (which is not about restraint but all about understanding dysregulation, trauma, attachment disorders and de - escalation techniques). We have termly SEND updates on such topics as neurodiversity, ASC, ADHD, trauma, attachment etc We have half termly SEND meetings where we present and discuss SEND pupils, their needs, interventions and progress, barriers to learning etc. We have bespoke calm rooms, a sensory room, OT interventions, a SEND TA, a SENDCO (all trained and with the apporpriate qualifications), family support workers and a social worker. We have a trained TA who delivers SALT interventions daily. We screen and intervene from Nursery onwards.
Our problem at the moment is that our referrals are being bounced back as we are deemed to be too successful in meeting needs. CAMHS cannot be reached except via email and children are now waiting longer than they ever have for appointments. I'm sure (I know) that we have some parents who feel that we're not doing enough for our pupils with SEND.

@JimmyGrimble it sounds like you are doing a good job in difficult circumstances.

However, the experience of many kids is not this. The concerns raised are bet with tumbleweed or incomprehension, because the knowledge or how different conditions manifest (particularly in those who are academically able and compliant with rules) is completely absent. Likewise the potentially life-long consequences of insisting they continue without adjustments or support or even recognition of the issues.

Agreed. We pass a lot of our children up to the 'Outstanding' secondary up the road. We pass on extensive notes, histories, plans etc and many of them still end up in a 'unit' as square pegs that don't fit the round hole. You're right, many schools do not provide adequately for their children with SEND, it can be done, it takes effort and is a huge budget consideration. I really worry about the cutting of budgets and what it means for provision.

Gosh this is sad. I was reading a teacherbashing thread yesterday (that denied they were teacherbashing) in response to some schools suggesting children stay home in the heat.its like a different world with some parents.

That's horrendous, when they've come from such a nurturing environment. And must completely shatter their self-esteem, as well as their potential. How depressing.

We pass a lot of our children up to the 'Outstanding' secondary up the road. We pass on extensive notes, histories, plans etc and many of them still end up in a 'unit' as square pegs that don't fit the round hole. You're right, many schools do not provide adequately for their children with SEND

However, to be fair, primaries are a very different kettle of fish to secondary, and with the best will in the world, a child who needs a consistent teacher and TA support and the same class every year is going to struggle in secondary where that won't be the case.

I also think that possibly @JimmyGrimble the school funding formulas impact this? Is your school better able to fund some of this because it is in a deprived area? I know the area where we live has some of the lowest funding per pupil in the country, so any support at all is like getting blood out of a stone.

I will be voting to strike.

Interestingly, so will the young teachers I have been talking to who will be benefitting from the much bigger pay rise. They can see further than their own pay packets and are shocked at how more experienced teachers are being treated. They know that that will be them in a few years! They can also see the effects of lack of funding and hate the idea that their pay rise will be directly taking away from provision for the kids.

Of course it will be trickier. But if all teachers are properly trained and briefed on the specific child's needs, a 1:1 is provided where needed to provide consistency and help them navigate lessons etc, for many it would be possible.

Even simple things like being allowed to stay inside during breaks, having a quiet space to go to. Many schools still don't provide even these basics, or even make sure teachers know the needs of the children in their class.

Fundamentally classes need to be half of the size they are, for things to improve substantially for all kids, not just SEN kids, IMO.

Adaptions to uniform being allowed to account for sensory issues, not lighting every room with flourescent lights?! Simple stuff. Some of it free. Many schools still will not do.

Most teachers I know have left the profession because of the working conditions, not the pay. I would actually rather take a pay cut and have more money spent on creating better conditions.

How depressing, OP. Thank you for explaining it so well.

I can imagine nobody goes into the profession because they are motivated by money. Obviously they absolutely should get the payrise - actually a higher one that isn't a pay cut - but it's reassuring that they are equally disturbed that this is not being funded. While unfunded tax cuts are promised. 😒

However, to be fair, primaries are a very different kettle of fish to secondary, and with the best will in the world, a child who needs a consistent teacher and TA support and the same class every year is going to struggle in secondary where that won't be the case.

Actually, due to budget restraints, there is much less TA support for kids with SEND in primary schools than most people probably realise. In my school, the only children who have 1:1 support are those who would physically endanger themselves and others without it. We have children with EHCPs who have no 1:1 support or maybe 1-2 hours a day. This includes non-verbal children or ASD children with many needs who struggle to cope alone. We teachers are just left alone to do the best we can while we try to teach the rest of the class.

The whole of society will suffer as a consequence

But then society voted for it and has been voting for it for 12 years.

The increasing slide into being a 3rd world country. We are seriously regressing.