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Teachers

Teachers in UK Schools "Go Above and Beyond" Amidst Funding Crisis

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Teachers in schools across the UK are continuing to support children despite a severe funding crisis, with some buying resources from their own wages and staying late to help those in need. The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Acting General Secretary Matt Wrack highlighted the impact of the crisis, stating that schools are being asked to make impossible "efficiencies" from budgets stripped to the bone, and that teachers are being forced to pick up the pieces where other services have been stripped away.

Key Takeaways:

  • More than 170,000 children in the North East of England live in poverty, a number that Mr. Wrack described as "shaming" the country's politics and education system.
  • Teachers are going "above and beyond" every day, buying resources from their own wages, staying late to help students, and spotting those who are going hungry.
  • The pay rises awarded to teachers, including a 5.5% increase by the incoming Labour Government, have "certainly improved things" but are not enough to alleviate the funding crisis.
  • The NASUWT believes that the funding crisis is due to a "political trick" that asks headteachers to choose between teacher pay and support for children, and that this will lead to a recruitment and retention crisis in teaching.
  • The union suggests that more money could be found from individuals, corporations, and sections of society that have "done very well out of the years since the financial crisis".
  • The NASUWT has released a report, "Where Has All the Money Gone?", which highlights the billions of pounds being siphoned away from schools to private providers.
  • The union is demanding that those profiteering from the education system, including Multi-Academy Trusts and private providers, are made to pay for their share of funding.
  • The NASUWT is calling for a change of direction from the government, rejecting austerity measures and demanding decent wages and good quality pensions for teachers.

Statistics:

  • 170,000 children in the North East of England live in poverty (source: Mr. Wrack's statement).
  • 5.5% pay rise awarded to teachers by the incoming Labour Government (source: Mr. Wrack's statement).
  • PS300 million profit made by teacher supply agencies (source: "Where Has All the Money Gone?" report by the NASUWT).
  • PS60,000 charged by private providers for Special Needs children (source: "Where Has All the Money Gone?" report by the NASUWT).

Sources:

  • National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Acting General Secretary Matt Wrack's statement at the Durham Miners' Gala.
  • "Where Has All the Money Gone?" report by the NASUWT.

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