‘THE IMPACT poverty has on children and young people’s education is immense,’ Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said yesterday.
He was commenting on ‘Tackling the persistent disadvantage gap’, a report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI).
‘Hunger, worry, lack of suitable clothing and housing are not burdens shaken off when you enter the classroom,’ he continued.
‘The National Funding Formula is re-allocating resources from the most deprived schools to the least deprived schools.
‘We agree with the EPI that this needs to be addressed in order to achieve the government’s mission to break down barriers for disadvantaged pupils.
‘The education system, from early years through to post-16, is in dire need of funding and support.
‘While greater support for persistently disadvantaged pupils is needed within schools, the government must also remedy the causes, to reduce how many children are living in poverty and break the cycle.
‘The failure to remove the deeply damaging two-child benefit limit or to extend free school meals will entrench poverty for hundreds of thousands of children.’
On a similar theme, Kebede also commented on ‘A class act? Social mobility and the creative industries’, new research published on Tuesday by the Sutton Trust.
‘The EBacc and SATs create coercive pressure away from arts provision in the system,’ Kebede said, adding ‘they are a significant part of, albeit not the entire problem’.
He continued: ‘The findings in this report will resonate strongly with NEU members and their experiences.
‘The systematic reduction in real terms funding for schools means that it is not only a narrowing of the curriculum that has occurred over a decade-plus, but a reduction.
‘Schools simply don’t have sufficient studios, classrooms, equipment or teachers to teach the arts any more because far less is spent on education.
‘To reverse this trend, not only will perverse accountability measures need removing but funding for schools and colleges must be improved, with ringfenced funding for the arts.
‘Quite simply, you get what you pay for, and at the moment, the investment in education is far below previous levels in England.
‘These choices have consequences and the decimation of the arts in state schools is evidence of just that.’
On a similar theme, meanwhile, the NEU has urged the UK government to prioritise action to tackle the global teacher recruitment and retention crisis in its development priorities.
The report, Prioritise Teachers to Transform Education, published on World Teachers’ Day last month, called on the Labour Government to invest in education at home and internationally and put the world’s teachers at the heart of its education mission.
Globally, 44 million additional teachers are needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) and deliver universal primary and secondary education for all children and young people by 2030.
The report puts forward a series of recommendations for how the Labour Government can support children globally to access a qualified, well-trained and well-supported teacher. It argues for:
- the development of a new global teacher strategy to support the recruitment, retention and training of qualified teachers in the Global South;
- Ministers are also urged to enhance collaboration with teachers’ unions, source countries and international agencies to address the teacher shortage crisis;
- It also calls for a Global Fund for Teachers’ Salaries to ensure that children’s education can continue during times of emergency.
The report also outlines how government policies in recent years – illustrated most notably by the failure to recruit and retain adequate numbers of UK trained teachers – have exacerbated shortages of qualified teachers across the Commonwealth.
This follows recent reports into the second-rate rights and terms and conditions experienced by overseas trained teachers in England, with teachers being paid thousands of pounds a year less than English-trained recruits with similar levels of experience.
Daniel Kebede, NEU General Secretary said: ‘Just as thousands of additional teachers are required in the UK, millions more teachers are needed globally.
‘The Labour Government has rightly put education at the heart of its mission to spread and expand opportunity.
‘They know that a solution to the recruitment and retention crisis will make a big difference in the ability of schools to support every child.
‘This is true in the UK and magnified across the globe.
‘A child in Lagos has the same right to access a qualified teacher as a child in Liverpool.
‘We urge the UK to accept its share of responsibility for the global teacher shortage and work with us to deliver the quality education that every child deserves.’
David Edwards, General Secretary of Education International, said: ‘As the global voice of the teaching profession, Education International is united with the NEU in building a world in which every educator is safe, valued, and respected and where the right to education is realised for all.
‘Investing in teachers is investing in our common future. Education International is proud to endorse the NEU’s new report on the global teacher shortage.
‘We add our voice to the growing calls for the Labour Government to prioritise teachers to transform education and to fulfil its pledge to create a world free from poverty on a liveable planet.’
Carlos Vargas, Chief of Section for Teacher Development at UNESCO and Head of the Secretariat for the International Taskforce on Teachers for Education 2030, said: ‘At UNESCO and the International Teacher Taskforce we have identified that the world needs 44 million additional teachers by 2030 to meet the Sustainable Development Goal for education.
‘We warmly welcome the NEU’s new report which outlines the fundamental role that the UK Government can play in addressing the teacher recruitment and retention crisis at home and internationally.
‘I was delighted to attend the NEU’s roundtable at Labour Party Conference last month to discuss how tackling the global teacher shortage can unlock the UK’s international development agenda.
‘Without adequate focus on, and financing for, teachers and teacher policy, global commitments on SDG 4 and other development priorities will not be met.’
The NEU’s report is a contribution to the growing calls to transform the teaching profession. This builds on the publication earlier this year of the High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession, established by the UN Secretary-General, and the first Global Report on Teachers, published by the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and UNESCO.
- The NASUWT teachers’ union has raised concerns with Newport Council over the funding of a private company of educational advisors.
Newport Council provides the lowest education funding per pupil in Wales whilst continuing to fund the South East Wales Education Achievement Service (EAS), a private advisory service that has had little impact on the achievement of pupils in Newport.
Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT, said: ‘Our message to Newport Council is clear: prioritise schools when it comes to education funding.
‘There is a crisis in learner behaviour in Wales and the money is needed in schools to reduce class sizes and increase support.
‘That is the way to raise standards, reduce workload and improve the wellbeing of teachers in Newport.’
Neil Butler, National Official for Wales, said: ‘According to a recent Welsh Government statistical release, no other local authority in Wales funds children lower than Newport.
‘Delegated school expenditure per pupil is only £6,120 in Newport.
‘This is the lowest in Wales and an incredible £913 less per pupil than the highest funding local authorities. Just think what could be done with that extra funding.
‘But the situation is worse in Newport because, not satisfied with being the lowest funder, the Council has decided to continue funding the EAS.
‘Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been taken from Newport children in the past year alone to fund the EAS, yet there is no meaningful and measurable improvement in Newport schools since its inception.
‘We are all aware that funding is going to be really tight this year. It’s time for Newport Council to start prioritising the chalk face where the real work of education is being done.’
