UK schools face ‘perfect storm’ – union – RT World News
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School leaders are forced to cut staff hours and support programs due to the cost of living and energy crisis
The majority of UK schools are considering staff cuts due to rising costs and insufficient funding, headteachers’ union NAHT said on Tuesday, citing the results of the biggest survey ever.
Of more than 11,600 respondents who took the survey, 66% said they will have to lay off teaching assistants or cut their hours. Half of survey participants said they were considering reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours.
« Education is really in a perilous state », Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said.
« With more fat to cut after a decade of austerity, many thousands of schools now face falling into deficit unless they make sweeping cuts. »
Among the factors contributing to the « a perfect storm of coststhat schools endure, he named « skyrocketing costs of resources and supplies », as well as the energy crisis, which has been exacerbated by anti-Russian sanctions and dwindling Russian energy supplies to Europe.
The survey, conducted between September 27 and October 14, found that 51% of schools will take action to reduce energy consumption, 58% plan to reduce investment in equipment and 56% will reduce spending on equipment. ‘maintenance.
Whiteman warned that many student support services, such as mental health or speech therapy, will become unavailable. Schools will also not be able to afford to provide additional aid to poorer families, he said.
As teachers in Scotland, England and Wales consider industrial action in the face of cost of living pressures, the Department for Education has said it is aware of the challenges schools are facing. He added, quoted by the BBC, that all schools could benefit from the energy bill relief scheme and that basic funding for schools had risen to £53.8billion this year.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England in its November report describes the outlook for the UK economy as « very difficult » and predict a « prolonged period of recession ».
In order to contain « Inflation too high » which is now at 10.1%, the regulator raised interest rates to a 33-year high in 33 years.
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