09 May Education cuts in the UK sending schools into a predicament
Huge crisis around the UK forcing secondary schools to cut members of staff meaning bigger classes and less individual attention for pupils
By Olivia Kemp
Many secondary schools across the UK have hit an all-time low as they are forced to ditch a total of 15,000 members of staff over the past 2 years. This is resulting to £2.8 billion of ‘real-term funding cuts in schools’. A statement from the School Cuts alliance: “the situation is highly likely to get worse, meaning it’s estimated that nine in 10 secondary schools will have a funding cut during 2015-2019”. The schools in areas like Reading, Bedfordshire, Essex, York and many more will be effected the most.
There’s been a rise in 4,500 pupils in England, showing the higher the population the harder it’ll be to fund. Teaching assistant Lisa Bemister, who works at a School in Essex says: “it’s been a tough working as a teaching assistant, the number of staff that have been let go is a shame. It’s not giving the pupils what they need because of how little staff we have. There have been problems with standard things which isn’t right”.
… “In some school’s parents have had to provide for their children, does that apply here?”
Teaching assistant Lisa Bemister. Taken by Olivia Kemp
“At the start of the year, we sent out letters recommending they provide their children with stationary just because we didn’t have enough to go around”
…” Have you noticed a drop in staff? Are there problems with getting staff to cover?”
“For the staff, we notice but for students I think that it’s not as noticeable. The classes have been moved around so certain staff will have to teach more classes a day than
Education cuts infographic. Created by Olivia Kemp on Visme.co
others”
New research shown by the National Education Union and TES has shown that 94% of staff in the UK have paid for essential materials out their own pocket. This shows that for some teachers, it’s rinsing them of their wages, some have spent thousands.
While some are spending thousands, others have set up donations to raise money for equipment that the school aren’t providing. 42% of parents across the UK were asked to give money to the school this year and have been asked to supply their children with equipment. This is showing what the crisis has come too and how it’s affecting many people.
I went and spoke to a concerned parent, who’s child is being effected by the cash crisis. She said: “I’m aware that my child isn’t getting the help he needs down to the lack of staff there is in the school, it’s definitely got a lot worse since he joined the school. He suffers with dyslexia so the school knows that he needs extra help in certain areas and because of the drop-in staff, he is struggling more than he should”.
Education in the UK is a right and therefore they need to be providing equipment like pens and paper to every student. This could affect pupils learning due to a shortage in staff and no access to 1 on 1 sessions with pupils and staff, especially effecting the ones who have difficulty in learning.
With many schools across the country suffering from education cuts, it has caused a huge disadvantage to teachers, parents and especially the students. We can only hope that there will be a resolution for the schools in the cash crisis as it has become evident that this can’t go on.
Factors to be considered:
This was all my own original content, I worked entirely on my own throughout getting original interviews and pictures.
