Campaign To Keep The Lights On The Desperate State Of England S Schools And Universities Educational Politics

“Our costs are through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are about to strike, our students are suffering but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges across the country. With inflation and the cost of living dominating the headlines and headteachers having to revise their budgets to take account of rising costs, few expect a new prime minister to focus on tackling any of the structural problems facing the sector, as education politics barely feature in any of the Conservative party leadership debates. Liz Truss, in particular, made only two policy commitments relating to schools or universities: to support the expansion of grammar schools and to offer compulsory Oxbridge interviews for able-bodied school leavers. She was silent on problems such as the persistent achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest students. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “I think the cost of living will potentially dominate public policy. This is not necessarily wrong, because it is an immediate issue for many families. But it should not in theory prevent the Department of Education from trying to pursue what it believes is the right thing to do. “I don’t know if an incoming administration or education secretary knows what their education priorities should be or if they will be distracted by things like expanding grammar schools or guaranteeing Oxbridge interviews for high-achieving A-levels. “That’s what worries me: that we’re going to have constant distractions about policies that will either make no difference to social mobility, or hurt it. Meanwhile, we have an achievement gap opening up between poor children and the rest, and between the north and the south of the country.” Rising costs are not the only immediate difficulties. Schools in England are struggling to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones as the shadow of Covid hangs over efforts to help pupils recover from learning that has been disrupted over the past two years. Meanwhile, decision-making on a range of issues – from special needs provision, university entry requirements, to upcoming legislation – has stalled as ministers come and go. Teachers join other key workers protesting outside BBC Broadcasting House in June. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Industry leaders acknowledge that the government’s first priorities are likely to be supporting families facing higher energy bills, with education likely behind social care and the NHS in the queue for help. As with businesses, energy bills for schools, colleges and universities are not covered, meaning that when their current arrangements expire, they face unlimited increases. “When you look at the numbers from Westminster, the extra cost can seem affordable. But when you look at the grassroots, the money is not distributed evenly, the conditions in schools are not uniform,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. “The real fear is that while many schools may get through the next 12 months, there is a huge number that will not be able to pay their bills. I was with a school principal yesterday who was going around with his staff to find out which bulbs were necessary and which bulbs could be removed to save electricity. It gets so hard. “We are told that so many more billions go to education. But the [Institute for Fiscal Studies] they will tell you that even the hollows are bragging that by the end of next year we will be back to 2010 funding levels, now we won’t even get there with inflation and the extra costs on schools. “We are really in an extremely difficult funding situation. This is not a campaign for more money. This is a campaign to keep the lights on.” Existing school budgets are also expected to pay for the 5% rise in teachers’ pay granted by the government earlier this summer and absorb the higher costs associated with the provision of free school meals. In June, the then education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the daily allowance for universal free meals for school pupils up to Year 2 would rise by just 7p to £2.41 – as school caterers said food prices were rising by 20%. This has left schools with a dilemma of cutting portions or supplementing the costs from their own budgets. Even before the rise in inflation, schools and universities have faced action over pay, with the next No 10 likely to face multiple strikes this winter following votes from education unions, school support staff and academics. Both of England’s main teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT, are preparing to call strike ballots, with the NEU holding an indicative vote at the end of September and the NASUWT saying it would follow in November if there was no improving the government’s wage offer made earlier this summer. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Members of the National Education Union and their supporters are protesting free school meals for disadvantaged children during the school holidays. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images School support staff, including teaching assistants, may also strike after pay rises were rejected by unions Unison, Unite and GMB, which are now consulting their members. Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said his members had low expectations of what a change of management would bring. “We don’t expect anything we don’t have to fight for. What we saw during the election for our next prime minister is that both candidates were only interested in talking to members of the Tory party. “Everyone else agrees there are real problems – except the Conservative party. So this way of choosing our next prime minister does not give you hope that they will deal with the immediate crises or that they will deal with the long-term issues that matter, such as the exam culture in schools or the narrowness of the curriculum.” Even before the cost of living crisis, staff retention was a major concern for school leaders as pay levels in education fell further behind those in the private sector. While the pandemic has provided some respite, increasing demand for entry into teacher training and increasing retention rates, the latest school workforce census showed that 23% of those who qualified in 2019 had left teaching three years later. The situation is most acute at colleges of higher education, where a new survey has found shortages of teachers and lecturers in subjects such as construction, engineering and IT, in a sector that has seen a decade of declining funding. The higher education sector will be hit by another round of strikes over pay and pensions, with strike ballots opening next week for members of the Union of Universities and Colleges at 151 campuses across the UK over the union’s demand for a rise wages by 12%. Universities are facing cost pressures commensurate with their size, while their income continues to be squeezed. Annual tuition fees for full-time undergraduates in England have been set at £9,250 since 2016, with the government saying it will freeze them until 2024-25. Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors in formal higher education, said many institutions were feeling the financial strain as inflation wiped out their income. Union of Universities and Colleges protesters in London in December demanded fair pay and an end to zero-hours contracts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “The value of the fees has eroded over time and is now worth around £6,500. I think we need to highlight that pressure, we need a strong, evidence-based case to make to the government to make our finances more sustainable,” Hale said. While universities have cut costs, Hale said there was “only so much that can be done” before it undermines universities’ ability to deliver high-quality courses for as many students as possible. “The one thing universities don’t want to do is reduce quality, and ultimately they don’t want to limit opportunity. So it’s a tie – we’ve got an increase [school-leaver] demographics and more people who want to go to university. The pressures we saw afterwards [A-level] Results day will only increase if we don’t find a solution,” he said. Hale said the plight of students needed to be factored into any cost of living measures the new prime minister had: “There is a wide range of things that universities are starting to implement around hardship, but I think we should see action from the government as well. It is very important that students are not forgotten when the Government considers how it is tackling the cost of living crisis.”

title: " Campaign To Keep The Lights On The Desperate State Of England S Schools And Universities Educational Politics Klmat" ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-23” author: “Penny Tooley”

“Our costs are through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are about to strike, our students are suffering but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges across the country. With inflation and the cost of living dominating the headlines and headteachers having to revise their budgets to take account of rising costs, few expect a new prime minister to focus on tackling any of the structural problems facing the sector, as education politics barely feature in any of the Conservative party leadership debates. Liz Truss, in particular, made only two policy commitments relating to schools or universities: to support the expansion of grammar schools and to offer compulsory Oxbridge interviews for able-bodied school leavers. She was silent on problems such as the persistent achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest students. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “I think the cost of living will potentially dominate public policy. This is not necessarily wrong, because it is an immediate issue for many families. But it should not in theory prevent the Department of Education from trying to pursue what it believes is the right thing to do. “I don’t know if an incoming administration or education secretary knows what their education priorities should be or if they will be distracted by things like expanding grammar schools or guaranteeing Oxbridge interviews for high-achieving A-levels. “That’s what worries me: that we’re going to have constant distractions about policies that will either make no difference to social mobility, or hurt it. Meanwhile, we have an achievement gap opening up between poor children and the rest, and between the north and the south of the country.” Rising costs are not the only immediate difficulties. Schools in England are struggling to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones as the shadow of Covid hangs over efforts to help pupils recover from learning that has been disrupted over the past two years. Meanwhile, decision-making on a range of issues – from special needs provision, university entry requirements, to upcoming legislation – has stalled as ministers come and go. Teachers join other key workers protesting outside BBC Broadcasting House in June. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Industry leaders acknowledge that the government’s first priorities are likely to be supporting families facing higher energy bills, with education likely behind social care and the NHS in the queue for help. As with businesses, energy bills for schools, colleges and universities are not covered, meaning that when their current arrangements expire, they face unlimited increases. “When you look at the numbers from Westminster, the extra cost can seem affordable. But when you look at the grassroots, the money is not distributed evenly, the conditions in schools are not uniform,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. “The real fear is that while many schools may get through the next 12 months, there is a huge number that will not be able to pay their bills. I was with a school principal yesterday who was going around with his staff to find out which bulbs were necessary and which bulbs could be removed to save electricity. It gets so hard. “We are told that so many more billions go to education. But the [Institute for Fiscal Studies] they will tell you that even the hollows are bragging that by the end of next year we will be back to 2010 funding levels, now we won’t even get there with inflation and the extra costs on schools. “We are really in an extremely difficult funding situation. This is not a campaign for more money. This is a campaign to keep the lights on.” Existing school budgets are also expected to pay for the 5% rise in teachers’ pay granted by the government earlier this summer and absorb the higher costs associated with the provision of free school meals. In June, the then education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the daily allowance for universal free meals for school pupils up to Year 2 would rise by just 7p to £2.41 – as school caterers said food prices were rising by 20%. This has left schools with a dilemma of cutting portions or supplementing the costs from their own budgets. Even before the rise in inflation, schools and universities have faced action over pay, with the next No 10 likely to face multiple strikes this winter following votes from education unions, school support staff and academics. Both of England’s main teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT, are preparing to call strike ballots, with the NEU holding an indicative vote at the end of September and the NASUWT saying it would follow in November if there was no improving the government’s wage offer made earlier this summer. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Members of the National Education Union and their supporters are protesting free school meals for disadvantaged children during the school holidays. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images School support staff, including teaching assistants, may also strike after pay rises were rejected by unions Unison, Unite and GMB, which are now consulting their members. Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said his members had low expectations of what a change of management would bring. “We don’t expect anything we don’t have to fight for. What we saw during the election for our next prime minister is that both candidates were only interested in talking to members of the Tory party. “Everyone else agrees there are real problems – except the Conservative party. So this way of choosing our next prime minister does not give you hope that they will deal with the immediate crises or that they will deal with the long-term issues that matter, such as the exam culture in schools or the narrowness of the curriculum.” Even before the cost of living crisis, staff retention was a major concern for school leaders as pay levels in education fell further behind those in the private sector. While the pandemic has provided some respite, increasing demand for entry into teacher training and increasing retention rates, the latest school workforce census showed that 23% of those who qualified in 2019 had left teaching three years later. The situation is most acute at colleges of higher education, where a new survey has found shortages of teachers and lecturers in subjects such as construction, engineering and IT, in a sector that has seen a decade of declining funding. The higher education sector will be hit by another round of strikes over pay and pensions, with strike ballots opening next week for members of the Union of Universities and Colleges at 151 campuses across the UK over the union’s demand for a rise wages by 12%. Universities are facing cost pressures commensurate with their size, while their income continues to be squeezed. Annual tuition fees for full-time undergraduates in England have been set at £9,250 since 2016, with the government saying it will freeze them until 2024-25. Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors in formal higher education, said many institutions were feeling the financial strain as inflation wiped out their income. Union of Universities and Colleges protesters in London in December demanded fair pay and an end to zero-hours contracts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “The value of the fees has eroded over time and is now worth around £6,500. I think we need to highlight that pressure, we need a strong, evidence-based case to make to the government to make our finances more sustainable,” Hale said. While universities have cut costs, Hale said there was “only so much that can be done” before it undermines universities’ ability to deliver high-quality courses for as many students as possible. “The one thing universities don’t want to do is reduce quality, and ultimately they don’t want to limit opportunity. So it’s a tie – we’ve got an increase [school-leaver] demographics and more people who want to go to university. The pressures we saw afterwards [A-level] Results day will only increase if we don’t find a solution,” he said. Hale said the plight of students needed to be factored into any cost of living measures the new prime minister had: “There is a wide range of things that universities are starting to implement around hardship, but I think we should see action from the government as well. It is very important that students are not forgotten when the Government considers how it is tackling the cost of living crisis.”

title: " Campaign To Keep The Lights On The Desperate State Of England S Schools And Universities Educational Politics Klmat" ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-29” author: “Harriet Brown”

“Our costs are through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are about to strike, our students are suffering but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges across the country. With inflation and the cost of living dominating the headlines and headteachers having to revise their budgets to take account of rising costs, few expect a new prime minister to focus on tackling any of the structural problems facing the sector, as education politics barely feature in any of the Conservative party leadership debates. Liz Truss, in particular, made only two policy commitments relating to schools or universities: to support the expansion of grammar schools and to offer compulsory Oxbridge interviews for able-bodied school leavers. She was silent on problems such as the persistent achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest students. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “I think the cost of living will potentially dominate public policy. This is not necessarily wrong, because it is an immediate issue for many families. But it should not in theory prevent the Department of Education from trying to pursue what it believes is the right thing to do. “I don’t know if an incoming administration or education secretary knows what their education priorities should be or if they will be distracted by things like expanding grammar schools or guaranteeing Oxbridge interviews for high-achieving A-levels. “That’s what worries me: that we’re going to have constant distractions about policies that will either make no difference to social mobility, or hurt it. Meanwhile, we have an achievement gap opening up between poor children and the rest, and between the north and the south of the country.” Rising costs are not the only immediate difficulties. Schools in England are struggling to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones as the shadow of Covid hangs over efforts to help pupils recover from learning that has been disrupted over the past two years. Meanwhile, decision-making on a range of issues – from special needs provision, university entry requirements, to upcoming legislation – has stalled as ministers come and go. Teachers join other key workers protesting outside BBC Broadcasting House in June. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Industry leaders acknowledge that the government’s first priorities are likely to be supporting families facing higher energy bills, with education likely behind social care and the NHS in the queue for help. As with businesses, energy bills for schools, colleges and universities are not covered, meaning that when their current arrangements expire, they face unlimited increases. “When you look at the numbers from Westminster, the extra cost can seem affordable. But when you look at the grassroots, the money is not distributed evenly, the conditions in schools are not uniform,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. “The real fear is that while many schools may get through the next 12 months, there is a huge number that will not be able to pay their bills. I was with a school principal yesterday who was going around with his staff to find out which bulbs were necessary and which bulbs could be removed to save electricity. It gets so hard. “We are told that so many more billions go to education. But the [Institute for Fiscal Studies] they will tell you that even the hollows are bragging that by the end of next year we will be back to 2010 funding levels, now we won’t even get there with inflation and the extra costs on schools. “We are really in an extremely difficult funding situation. This is not a campaign for more money. This is a campaign to keep the lights on.” Existing school budgets are also expected to pay for the 5% rise in teachers’ pay granted by the government earlier this summer and absorb the higher costs associated with the provision of free school meals. In June, the then education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the daily allowance for universal free meals for school pupils up to Year 2 would rise by just 7p to £2.41 – as school caterers said food prices were rising by 20%. This has left schools with a dilemma of cutting portions or supplementing the costs from their own budgets. Even before the rise in inflation, schools and universities have faced action over pay, with the next No 10 likely to face multiple strikes this winter following votes from education unions, school support staff and academics. Both of England’s main teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT, are preparing to call strike ballots, with the NEU holding an indicative vote at the end of September and the NASUWT saying it would follow in November if there was no improving the government’s wage offer made earlier this summer. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Members of the National Education Union and their supporters are protesting free school meals for disadvantaged children during the school holidays. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images School support staff, including teaching assistants, may also strike after pay rises were rejected by unions Unison, Unite and GMB, which are now consulting their members. Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said his members had low expectations of what a change of management would bring. “We don’t expect anything we don’t have to fight for. What we saw during the election for our next prime minister is that both candidates were only interested in talking to members of the Tory party. “Everyone else agrees there are real problems – except the Conservative party. So this way of choosing our next prime minister does not give you hope that they will deal with the immediate crises or that they will deal with the long-term issues that matter, such as the exam culture in schools or the narrowness of the curriculum.” Even before the cost of living crisis, staff retention was a major concern for school leaders as pay levels in education fell further behind those in the private sector. While the pandemic has provided some respite, increasing demand for entry into teacher training and increasing retention rates, the latest school workforce census showed that 23% of those who qualified in 2019 had left teaching three years later. The situation is most acute at colleges of higher education, where a new survey has found shortages of teachers and lecturers in subjects such as construction, engineering and IT, in a sector that has seen a decade of declining funding. The higher education sector will be hit by another round of strikes over pay and pensions, with strike ballots opening next week for members of the Union of Universities and Colleges at 151 campuses across the UK over the union’s demand for a rise wages by 12%. Universities are facing cost pressures commensurate with their size, while their income continues to be squeezed. Annual tuition fees for full-time undergraduates in England have been set at £9,250 since 2016, with the government saying it will freeze them until 2024-25. Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors in formal higher education, said many institutions were feeling the financial strain as inflation wiped out their income. Union of Universities and Colleges protesters in London in December demanded fair pay and an end to zero-hours contracts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “The value of the fees has eroded over time and is now worth around £6,500. I think we need to highlight that pressure, we need a strong, evidence-based case to make to the government to make our finances more sustainable,” Hale said. While universities have cut costs, Hale said there was “only so much that can be done” before it undermines universities’ ability to deliver high-quality courses for as many students as possible. “The one thing universities don’t want to do is reduce quality, and ultimately they don’t want to limit opportunity. So it’s a tie – we’ve got an increase [school-leaver] demographics and more people who want to go to university. The pressures we saw afterwards [A-level] Results day will only increase if we don’t find a solution,” he said. Hale said the plight of students needed to be factored into any cost of living measures the new prime minister had: “There is a wide range of things that universities are starting to implement around hardship, but I think we should see action from the government as well. It is very important that students are not forgotten when the Government considers how it is tackling the cost of living crisis.”

title: " Campaign To Keep The Lights On The Desperate State Of England S Schools And Universities Educational Politics Klmat" ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Theresa Callahan”

“Our costs are through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are about to strike, our students are suffering but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges across the country. With inflation and the cost of living dominating the headlines and headteachers having to revise their budgets to take account of rising costs, few expect a new prime minister to focus on tackling any of the structural problems facing the sector, as education politics barely feature in any of the Conservative party leadership debates. Liz Truss, in particular, made only two policy commitments relating to schools or universities: to support the expansion of grammar schools and to offer compulsory Oxbridge interviews for able-bodied school leavers. She was silent on problems such as the persistent achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest students. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “I think the cost of living will potentially dominate public policy. This is not necessarily wrong, because it is an immediate issue for many families. But it should not in theory prevent the Department of Education from trying to pursue what it believes is the right thing to do. “I don’t know if an incoming administration or education secretary knows what their education priorities should be or if they will be distracted by things like expanding grammar schools or guaranteeing Oxbridge interviews for high-achieving A-levels. “That’s what worries me: that we’re going to have constant distractions about policies that will either make no difference to social mobility, or hurt it. Meanwhile, we have an achievement gap opening up between poor children and the rest, and between the north and the south of the country.” Rising costs are not the only immediate difficulties. Schools in England are struggling to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones as the shadow of Covid hangs over efforts to help pupils recover from learning that has been disrupted over the past two years. Meanwhile, decision-making on a range of issues – from special needs provision, university entry requirements, to upcoming legislation – has stalled as ministers come and go. Teachers join other key workers protesting outside BBC Broadcasting House in June. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Industry leaders acknowledge that the government’s first priorities are likely to be supporting families facing higher energy bills, with education likely behind social care and the NHS in the queue for help. As with businesses, energy bills for schools, colleges and universities are not covered, meaning that when their current arrangements expire, they face unlimited increases. “When you look at the numbers from Westminster, the extra cost can seem affordable. But when you look at the grassroots, the money is not distributed evenly, the conditions in schools are not uniform,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. “The real fear is that while many schools may get through the next 12 months, there is a huge number that will not be able to pay their bills. I was with a school principal yesterday who was going around with his staff to find out which bulbs were necessary and which bulbs could be removed to save electricity. It gets so hard. “We are told that so many more billions go to education. But the [Institute for Fiscal Studies] they will tell you that even the hollows are bragging that by the end of next year we will be back to 2010 funding levels, now we won’t even get there with inflation and the extra costs on schools. “We are really in an extremely difficult funding situation. This is not a campaign for more money. This is a campaign to keep the lights on.” Existing school budgets are also expected to pay for the 5% rise in teachers’ pay granted by the government earlier this summer and absorb the higher costs associated with the provision of free school meals. In June, the then education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the daily allowance for universal free meals for school pupils up to Year 2 would rise by just 7p to £2.41 – as school caterers said food prices were rising by 20%. This has left schools with a dilemma of cutting portions or supplementing the costs from their own budgets. Even before the rise in inflation, schools and universities have faced action over pay, with the next No 10 likely to face multiple strikes this winter following votes from education unions, school support staff and academics. Both of England’s main teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT, are preparing to call strike ballots, with the NEU holding an indicative vote at the end of September and the NASUWT saying it would follow in November if there was no improving the government’s wage offer made earlier this summer. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Members of the National Education Union and their supporters are protesting free school meals for disadvantaged children during the school holidays. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images School support staff, including teaching assistants, may also strike after pay rises were rejected by unions Unison, Unite and GMB, which are now consulting their members. Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said his members had low expectations of what a change of management would bring. “We don’t expect anything we don’t have to fight for. What we saw during the election for our next prime minister is that both candidates were only interested in talking to members of the Tory party. “Everyone else agrees there are real problems – except the Conservative party. So this way of choosing our next prime minister does not give you hope that they will deal with the immediate crises or that they will deal with the long-term issues that matter, such as the exam culture in schools or the narrowness of the curriculum.” Even before the cost of living crisis, staff retention was a major concern for school leaders as pay levels in education fell further behind those in the private sector. While the pandemic has provided some respite, increasing demand for entry into teacher training and increasing retention rates, the latest school workforce census showed that 23% of those who qualified in 2019 had left teaching three years later. The situation is most acute at colleges of higher education, where a new survey has found shortages of teachers and lecturers in subjects such as construction, engineering and IT, in a sector that has seen a decade of declining funding. The higher education sector will be hit by another round of strikes over pay and pensions, with strike ballots opening next week for members of the Union of Universities and Colleges at 151 campuses across the UK over the union’s demand for a rise wages by 12%. Universities are facing cost pressures commensurate with their size, while their income continues to be squeezed. Annual tuition fees for full-time undergraduates in England have been set at £9,250 since 2016, with the government saying it will freeze them until 2024-25. Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors in formal higher education, said many institutions were feeling the financial strain as inflation wiped out their income. Union of Universities and Colleges protesters in London in December demanded fair pay and an end to zero-hours contracts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “The value of the fees has eroded over time and is now worth around £6,500. I think we need to highlight that pressure, we need a strong, evidence-based case to make to the government to make our finances more sustainable,” Hale said. While universities have cut costs, Hale said there was “only so much that can be done” before it undermines universities’ ability to deliver high-quality courses for as many students as possible. “The one thing universities don’t want to do is reduce quality, and ultimately they don’t want to limit opportunity. So it’s a tie – we’ve got an increase [school-leaver] demographics and more people who want to go to university. The pressures we saw afterwards [A-level] Results day will only increase if we don’t find a solution,” he said. Hale said the plight of students needed to be factored into any cost of living measures the new prime minister had: “There is a wide range of things that universities are starting to implement around hardship, but I think we should see action from the government as well. It is very important that students are not forgotten when the Government considers how it is tackling the cost of living crisis.”

title: " Campaign To Keep The Lights On The Desperate State Of England S Schools And Universities Educational Politics Klmat" ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-03” author: “Dorothy Schaefer”

“Our costs are through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are about to strike, our students are suffering but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges across the country. With inflation and the cost of living dominating the headlines and headteachers having to revise their budgets to take account of rising costs, few expect a new prime minister to focus on tackling any of the structural problems facing the sector, as education politics barely feature in any of the Conservative party leadership debates. Liz Truss, in particular, made only two policy commitments relating to schools or universities: to support the expansion of grammar schools and to offer compulsory Oxbridge interviews for able-bodied school leavers. She was silent on problems such as the persistent achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest students. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “I think the cost of living will potentially dominate public policy. This is not necessarily wrong, because it is an immediate issue for many families. But it should not in theory prevent the Department of Education from trying to pursue what it believes is the right thing to do. “I don’t know if an incoming administration or education secretary knows what their education priorities should be or if they will be distracted by things like expanding grammar schools or guaranteeing Oxbridge interviews for high-achieving A-levels. “That’s what worries me: that we’re going to have constant distractions about policies that will either make no difference to social mobility, or hurt it. Meanwhile, we have an achievement gap opening up between poor children and the rest, and between the north and the south of the country.” Rising costs are not the only immediate difficulties. Schools in England are struggling to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones as the shadow of Covid hangs over efforts to help pupils recover from learning that has been disrupted over the past two years. Meanwhile, decision-making on a range of issues – from special needs provision, university entry requirements, to upcoming legislation – has stalled as ministers come and go. Teachers join other key workers protesting outside BBC Broadcasting House in June. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Industry leaders acknowledge that the government’s first priorities are likely to be supporting families facing higher energy bills, with education likely behind social care and the NHS in the queue for help. As with businesses, energy bills for schools, colleges and universities are not covered, meaning that when their current arrangements expire, they face unlimited increases. “When you look at the numbers from Westminster, the extra cost can seem affordable. But when you look at the grassroots, the money is not distributed evenly, the conditions in schools are not uniform,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. “The real fear is that while many schools may get through the next 12 months, there is a huge number that will not be able to pay their bills. I was with a school principal yesterday who was going around with his staff to find out which bulbs were necessary and which bulbs could be removed to save electricity. It gets so hard. “We are told that so many more billions go to education. But the [Institute for Fiscal Studies] they will tell you that even the hollows are bragging that by the end of next year we will be back to 2010 funding levels, now we won’t even get there with inflation and the extra costs on schools. “We are really in an extremely difficult funding situation. This is not a campaign for more money. This is a campaign to keep the lights on.” Existing school budgets are also expected to pay for the 5% rise in teachers’ pay granted by the government earlier this summer and absorb the higher costs associated with the provision of free school meals. In June, the then education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the daily allowance for universal free meals for school pupils up to Year 2 would rise by just 7p to £2.41 – as school caterers said food prices were rising by 20%. This has left schools with a dilemma of cutting portions or supplementing the costs from their own budgets. Even before the rise in inflation, schools and universities have faced action over pay, with the next No 10 likely to face multiple strikes this winter following votes from education unions, school support staff and academics. Both of England’s main teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT, are preparing to call strike ballots, with the NEU holding an indicative vote at the end of September and the NASUWT saying it would follow in November if there was no improving the government’s wage offer made earlier this summer. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Members of the National Education Union and their supporters are protesting free school meals for disadvantaged children during the school holidays. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images School support staff, including teaching assistants, may also strike after pay rises were rejected by unions Unison, Unite and GMB, which are now consulting their members. Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said his members had low expectations of what a change of management would bring. “We don’t expect anything we don’t have to fight for. What we saw during the election for our next prime minister is that both candidates were only interested in talking to members of the Tory party. “Everyone else agrees there are real problems – except the Conservative party. So this way of choosing our next prime minister does not give you hope that they will deal with the immediate crises or that they will deal with the long-term issues that matter, such as the exam culture in schools or the narrowness of the curriculum.” Even before the cost of living crisis, staff retention was a major concern for school leaders as pay levels in education fell further behind those in the private sector. While the pandemic has provided some respite, increasing demand for entry into teacher training and increasing retention rates, the latest school workforce census showed that 23% of those who qualified in 2019 had left teaching three years later. The situation is most acute at colleges of higher education, where a new survey has found shortages of teachers and lecturers in subjects such as construction, engineering and IT, in a sector that has seen a decade of declining funding. The higher education sector will be hit by another round of strikes over pay and pensions, with strike ballots opening next week for members of the Union of Universities and Colleges at 151 campuses across the UK over the union’s demand for a rise wages by 12%. Universities are facing cost pressures commensurate with their size, while their income continues to be squeezed. Annual tuition fees for full-time undergraduates in England have been set at £9,250 since 2016, with the government saying it will freeze them until 2024-25. Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors in formal higher education, said many institutions were feeling the financial strain as inflation wiped out their income. Union of Universities and Colleges protesters in London in December demanded fair pay and an end to zero-hours contracts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “The value of the fees has eroded over time and is now worth around £6,500. I think we need to highlight that pressure, we need a strong, evidence-based case to make to the government to make our finances more sustainable,” Hale said. While universities have cut costs, Hale said there was “only so much that can be done” before it undermines universities’ ability to deliver high-quality courses for as many students as possible. “The one thing universities don’t want to do is reduce quality, and ultimately they don’t want to limit opportunity. So it’s a tie – we’ve got an increase [school-leaver] demographics and more people who want to go to university. The pressures we saw afterwards [A-level] Results day will only increase if we don’t find a solution,” he said. Hale said the plight of students needed to be factored into any cost of living measures the new prime minister had: “There is a wide range of things that universities are starting to implement around hardship, but I think we should see action from the government as well. It is very important that students are not forgotten when the Government considers how it is tackling the cost of living crisis.”