Suffolk teachers fear children will suffer if staff cuts go ahead
More than 54% of schools in England are planning staff redundancies due to underfunding and rising costs
Last updated 9th Nov 2022
Suffolk teachers fear children will suffer if staff cuts go ahead.
That's according to a union representative from NASUWT (The Teachers Union).
The Regional Organiser for the NASUWT, Keith Anderson, says teachers in Suffolk are worried about the education children will receive if they're made redundant in January.
It comes as new research shows more than 50% of schools in England could see "catastrophic" staff redundancies due to underfunding and rising costs.
The Headteachers' Union is warning a survey of more than 11,000 school leaders in the country shows two-thirds of headteachers will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours.
The Regional Organiser for the NASUWT, Keith Anderson, told us more about the issues involved:
"One of the problems we're seeing is for pupil funding. It's 3% lower than it was in 2010.
"So we're currently seeing a large increase in inflation at 10% but no additional money is coming into schools.
"Currently teachers have been offered a 5% pay rise. The money for that is not being put into schools, the schools have got to find it.
"We're also seeing a huge increase in gas and electricity, and our schools are very leaky buildings in relation to heat, so it does cost an awful lot of money to heat them and to keep the lights on.
"When you throw all of that into the mix, the reality is that schools aren't able to balance their budget"
What else can schools cut back on so they don't need to make staff redundant?
Keith explained that this is not a sudden decision, and schools have been making cuts for years in different areas:
"Schools have been facing austerity since 2010. Everything that can be cut, has been cut, everything's been cut to the bone.
"Everything is going up in cost and at the same time, including school meals, we're seeing the price of food going up as well.
"All of those things are going up in price. If the money isn't coming into the school, then more schools, the majority of their expenditure is on the labour cost of their staff.
"It's looking very bleak at the moment."
What will happen to the schools if redundancies take place?
We asked Keith what some are some of the things that could be impacted if these redundancies go ahead. He told us if there is a reduced amount of teachers, the classes will have to get bigger, with more children to a teacher.
This means the teacher will have an increased workload.
Keith also mentioned that these larger class sizes could negatively impact the children's ability to learn, and thus their education, with some potentially slipping through the cracks.
"If you've got a much larger class, that means that you're going to have to set a lot more work.
"(Also) the health and safety implications of having much bigger classes means that you aren't able to carry out the sort of activities that you would want to do normally.
"There are other things such as school trips...that will get knocked on the head because schools will simply not be able to afford to run those sorts of enhancements for students."
How are members of the NASUWT union feeling at the moment?
As the regional officer, Keith keeps in touch with teachers and TA's in Suffolk. He told us how they are feeling about all of this.
"Our members are really concerned about their job security. Our members are really concerned about the school that they're working (for), and they're concerned for the students that they teach.
"They go into teaching because they want to make a difference and it's very hard to be able to make that difference when you haven't got the money to be able to spend on the basics (for example), pens and books and other such things.
"But also, they worry that if the school is going to effectively run out of money, then the only way the school is going to be able to survive is by getting rid of staff."
What does the NASUWT want the government to do to prevent this?
Keith had this to say: "They the Government need to fully fund the pay rise that's being put forward for supporting staff and for teachers.
"We've rejected the 5% offer that's being put forward because that's in real terms (a) pay cut to our members and it doesn't address the issues of historical pay cuts that our Members have (and continue to) face.
"They've the government got their mini-budget coming up. So that's a real opportunity for them, rather than talking about what they're going to be cutting, they need to be talking about where they're going to be investing that money to ensure that we don't end up in a situation of having to make teachers and support staff redundant."