An unprecedented number of state schools could close due to “virtual bankruptcy”, principals’ union leaders have warned.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said schools were facing an “existential threat” due to a lack of government funding and difficulty recruiting enough staff.
he said I He said there was a “very serious risk” that some schools “simply will not survive” based on the current course set out by the Public Spending Plan.
“School and university finances are already under severe pressure, and if the current government’s public spending plans are implemented by the next parliament it will effectively mean a second era of austerity, but we need to do more. We’re going to be in serious trouble,” Barton said.
“Some schools, particularly smaller primary schools that are also affected by declining pupil numbers, may find it difficult to keep their doors open at all and could effectively go bankrupt.
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“If this were to happen and some of these schools had to close, it would be a very serious loss of facilities that communities depend on, something we have never seen on any scale before. That’s it.”
His analysis is supported by the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), which represents many of England’s state-run academy school chains. CST chief executive Leola Crudas said many schools were facing “extreme pressure on their budgets”.
“We do not believe the current approach to school funding, particularly the renovation of school buildings, is sustainable,” Ms Cruddas said. I.
CST’s latest national school trust survey in 2023 found that less than half of school trust managers said they were “very” or “quite” confident in the financial sustainability of their trusts, with 19 % said they were not very or very confident. I have no confidence at all. A fifth of school trusts said they were “concerned” about their long-term finances.
Neil Short, president of the National Association of Small Schools (NASS), acknowledged that small rural schools, especially those with only 30, 40 or 50 students, are “underfunded.”
He cited a 2019 study by centre-right think tank Onward, which said small schools were “twice as likely to close as the national average”.
Mr Short said the government’s National Funding Formula (NFF), introduced in 2018-19, “despite the government’s promises, funding for small schools has not been increased as significantly as expected. It didn’t come to that,” he said.
He said each small school’s financial situation is different, but added that “sometimes we have to close a school” because it is “unsustainable.”
Mr Barton said future prime ministers “need to reconsider public spending plans as they are so unrealistic”. In one of his final interviews before stepping down as ASCL leader next week after seven years, he added: “Some schools and trusts are talking about the possibility of bankruptcy.
“Right now, if you don’t have enough funding, the only thing you can do as a principal or principal is to increase class sizes, cut certain courses and make certain staff redundant.
“They will initially be teaching assistants… but teaching assistants are precisely the people who work with the most vulnerable children. So disproportionately they are going to be the most affected by this. .”
‘The Conservative Party doesn’t understand schools’
Jeff Burton has been ASCL’s general secretary for seven years. (Photo: Jason Sr./ASCL/PA Wire)
During his seven-year tenure as ASCL general secretary, Mr Barton has worked with seven Conservative education secretaries.
He said the biggest failure of the Conservative leadership during this period was their “failure to understand what was expected of schools”.
“They provide social cohesion. They bring communities together,” he said. I. “They can’t do it themselves, but what local authorities can provide has been drastically reduced, and there’s also a lack of support from social care and community policing. Schools don’t have the resources they need. We have been expected to do an unrealistic amount of work with children and young people.
“If we expect more schools, we need to give them more resources than we have in the past.”
He added that the government was “obsessed” with a narrow curriculum that “shut out” extra-curricular sports, music and debate.
He said state education risked narrowing the curriculum, while private schools could continue to offer “a full range of broad experiences”.
This is partly because teachers’ workloads are under pressure because they no longer have time to take students to sports games after school or run clubs during lunch breaks.
A lasting message? Mr Barton, who will chair the independent commission into the future of oracy education, wants to make education ‘even more important’ to parents to prevent an impending school crisis .
“We need to demonstrate that investment in education avoids problems in other areas such as criminal justice and social care,” he said. “All these problems that society has to deal with, if we have a good education system, we don’t have to pay for it.
“But that requires investment, and that requires voters to truly believe that education is important.”
Mr Barton said parents should be particularly concerned about the teacher recruitment and retention crisis as it meant many classes were being taught by teachers who were not subject matter experts.
“The fact that physics is taught in 400 schools and there are no physics teachers is a real concern for parents,” he said. I.
“We ask physical education teachers to teach math. But in reality, we are asking physical education teachers to teach math, but in reality, we need them to do more for a longer period of time so that we can recruit the best graduates to take on one of the most important jobs of educating the nation’s children and young people. We need a solution.”
Mr Short said some small schools were addressing funding issues by forming federations, which meant they could share the same principals, staff and resources to “lighten the burden”. .
He said he was “concerned” that more small schools would close due to funding issues, but each scenario leading to closure is different, with some schools more vulnerable than others. We are in a better situation,” he added.
Mr Burton added: “We are looking at schools minimizing everything, which means no more than 30 class sizes and no teaching assistants… and schools trying to do their best. This is the most basic budget. ”
He said: “Many schools and universities are likely to have to make further significant cuts to their provision of curriculum options, pastoral support, regular maintenance budgets, classroom and sports resources, etc.” Stated.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “School funding is increasing to more than £60.7 billion next year, the highest level ever in real terms per pupil.”
“With the vast majority of schools running in the black, we will provide up to £40 million in 2023-24 to support schools in financial difficulty.
“We are also providing additional funding to small rural schools because we recognize the important role they play in their communities.”
As the in-house writer for GallantCEO.com I prefer to remain anonymous as I do not seek anything from my writing only the self gratification of writing for a good cause such as this.
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