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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/30/schools-little-extras-philip-hammond-funding-teacher-budget
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| Schools don’t need ‘little extras’, Philip Hammond. They need proper funding | Schools don’t need ‘little extras’, Philip Hammond. They need proper funding |
| (25 days later) | |
| There has been a palpable sense of anger among school leaders, teachers and parents in recent months about crippling cuts to school funding. In September, thousands of headteachers marched in an unprecedented protest against funding shortages in England. Last week, a petition signed by 34,000 parents was delivered to the education secretary, Damian Hinds, criticising the dire state of funding for special educational needs. Now, even students are getting involved; the brilliant #floss4funding social media campaign saw school pupils across the country performing the dance craze to raise awareness. | There has been a palpable sense of anger among school leaders, teachers and parents in recent months about crippling cuts to school funding. In September, thousands of headteachers marched in an unprecedented protest against funding shortages in England. Last week, a petition signed by 34,000 parents was delivered to the education secretary, Damian Hinds, criticising the dire state of funding for special educational needs. Now, even students are getting involved; the brilliant #floss4funding social media campaign saw school pupils across the country performing the dance craze to raise awareness. |
| Headteachers forced to do menial tasks at unfilled rural schools | |
| Philip Hammond’s announcement that schools would receive £400m for “little extras” in this autumn’s budget therefore feels deeply insulting. As a secondary school teacher, I’d like to know what Hammond believes his patronising offer really means. Is it to pay for the glue sticks and toilet paper that schools have been forced to ask parents to provide? Or will it go towards the snacks that I keep in my desk for students who come to school hungry? Theresa May keeps repeating that the government is spending record amounts on education, but even the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that schools in England are facing the biggest fall in per-pupil spending in 30 years. | Philip Hammond’s announcement that schools would receive £400m for “little extras” in this autumn’s budget therefore feels deeply insulting. As a secondary school teacher, I’d like to know what Hammond believes his patronising offer really means. Is it to pay for the glue sticks and toilet paper that schools have been forced to ask parents to provide? Or will it go towards the snacks that I keep in my desk for students who come to school hungry? Theresa May keeps repeating that the government is spending record amounts on education, but even the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that schools in England are facing the biggest fall in per-pupil spending in 30 years. |
| Twitter has been awash with teachers mocking the budget, suggesting that they will spend the #littleextra on limousines to bring teachers to school and gold taps for the year-10 toilets. The chancellor must be joking if he thinks his meagre offer is going to make up for the £2.5bn that has been cut from school budgets since 2015. We don’t need “little extras”. We need more teachers to deal with a growing workload crisis. I have watched brilliant colleagues leaving the profession faster than new teachers can be recruited, and schools just don’t have the resources to hire the specialist staff our more vulnerable learners desperately need. | Twitter has been awash with teachers mocking the budget, suggesting that they will spend the #littleextra on limousines to bring teachers to school and gold taps for the year-10 toilets. The chancellor must be joking if he thinks his meagre offer is going to make up for the £2.5bn that has been cut from school budgets since 2015. We don’t need “little extras”. We need more teachers to deal with a growing workload crisis. I have watched brilliant colleagues leaving the profession faster than new teachers can be recruited, and schools just don’t have the resources to hire the specialist staff our more vulnerable learners desperately need. |
| Yet it is unlikely that Hammond’s “little extras” remark was included to appease teachers. In fact, it seems to be a deliberate attempt to suggest that schools aren’t actually doing as badly as headteachers and parents say they are. If all schools need is a new whiteboard, as Hammond has insultingly suggested, then perhaps things aren’t as bad in schools as it seems? | Yet it is unlikely that Hammond’s “little extras” remark was included to appease teachers. In fact, it seems to be a deliberate attempt to suggest that schools aren’t actually doing as badly as headteachers and parents say they are. If all schools need is a new whiteboard, as Hammond has insultingly suggested, then perhaps things aren’t as bad in schools as it seems? |
| Britain’s last budget in the EU is a sticking plaster for a nation in decline | Polly Toynbee | |
| Teachers are not going to let this situation continue without a fight. Before the budget, three of the country’s largest teaching unions had already joined together to set the chancellor six tests on schools funding. The National Education Union (NEU), the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders promised that if these were not met, they would consult members on what action to take next. The chancellor has dramatically failed all six of their tests. | Teachers are not going to let this situation continue without a fight. Before the budget, three of the country’s largest teaching unions had already joined together to set the chancellor six tests on schools funding. The National Education Union (NEU), the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders promised that if these were not met, they would consult members on what action to take next. The chancellor has dramatically failed all six of their tests. |
| I have already received an email from my union, the NEU, asking teachers like me to attend a briefing about building support for an indicative strike ballot. I would not be surprised if this receives an overwhelmingly positive response; there is real anger that teachers don’t have the resources we need to provide our students with the education we know they deserve. Next month there will be a national demonstration and rally in London to tell the government “enough is enough” when it comes to funding cuts. | I have already received an email from my union, the NEU, asking teachers like me to attend a briefing about building support for an indicative strike ballot. I would not be surprised if this receives an overwhelmingly positive response; there is real anger that teachers don’t have the resources we need to provide our students with the education we know they deserve. Next month there will be a national demonstration and rally in London to tell the government “enough is enough” when it comes to funding cuts. |
| Schools cannot wait for the chancellor’s promised “spending review” next year. This sounds to me like the government trying to put the brakes on the threat of unified action that is starting to grow. Hammond’s “little extras” simply aren’t good enough. School leaders, teachers, parents and students are going to make sure that our voices are heard. | Schools cannot wait for the chancellor’s promised “spending review” next year. This sounds to me like the government trying to put the brakes on the threat of unified action that is starting to grow. Hammond’s “little extras” simply aren’t good enough. School leaders, teachers, parents and students are going to make sure that our voices are heard. |
| • Holly Rigby is a teacher, and researches the National Education Service at King’s College London | • Holly Rigby is a teacher, and researches the National Education Service at King’s College London |
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| Budget 2018 | Budget 2018 |
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