Nerve 18 - What are cuts doing to our schools?

What are cuts doing to our schools?

All the events referred to in this article are taken from national and local media, and from discussions with people within schools.

Shorefields’ pupils and teachers strike to keep their school as part of the community

In a foretaste of what is to come in the fight against public sector cuts, the community around the Dingle have united in their opposition to academy status for Shorefields School. Recently both pupils and teachers have taken part in strike action against private companies controlling their school.
Pupils went on strike first, after a protest organised on Facebook. Then they came out again in support of their teachers.
One pupil told Nerve, “We have been told that we will get more money, but we don’t know how long for. Once this is set up with Chester University they can do what they like.
“This school is a community school, and as soon as it becomes an academy it will no longer be a community school. All my family have come to this school, so making it an academy is wrong.
“The teachers don’t want this either, because their money could drop and they could be taken out of the school and replaced with student teachers.
“Hopefully, we can stop Shorefields becoming an academy, but if it does happen at least we tried to stop it and we can go forward with our heads held high.
“Half the people here aren’t teachers, they are local people from the community around the school and from local shops. We went around putting notices on lampposts. The community are right behind us on this. We would like everyone around to show their support and help out.”

Protests too in Sefton

150 people attended a meeting in Maghull Town Hall on 10 May against their schools becoming academies. Seven schools in the borough have applied.

By Paddy Paulson

‘How can the Liberal Democrats allow this to happen?!’ That seems to be the question some people are asking. Yet cuts, cuts and more devastating cuts are clearly the order for the day from an ideologically driven Con Dem coalition. Many are increasingly worried about the effects on public services and wider society. I am a school teacher who has worked in a number of different schools over the last decade and I am also very concerned about the future of education in this country.

Over the last twenty years we have witnessed the Tory assault on public spending under Cameron and Thatcher/Major. In between we saw the Labour Party’s (who did treble education spending) adoption of the ‘don’t blame poverty’ teacher bashing and PFI (Private Finance Initiatives) taking over new schools. The Con Dem government have been more than keen to continue in this ideological drive, with the Liberal Democrats seemingly happy to join the ride.

The new government wants Free Schools, (these are schools that are ‘started up’ independently by parents), Academies (publicly funded independent schools), and the private sector driving education forward. Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is pushing this agenda and putting pressure on schools to do it as soon as possible. Schools are being told that academisation is the only way to prevent compulsory redundancies, and even in schools where there is clear opposition from pupils (including striking!), staff and the local community, school management and governing bodies are pushing it through.

We have also seen head teachers given more power, with some schools looking to opt out of local authority structures. This has meant heads being in charge of their own budgets, which as they decrease mean savage effects for the frontline for pupils, staff and the wider community.

While it is true that the education system usually reflects the dominant ideology and values of the ruling classes and establishment, progressives must always look to challenge this and pursue a fairer system. Labour abandoned any intentions to regulate independent schools due to fear of a right wing backlash. Now progressives are faced with a state school system where private groups can decide on who comes in and what goes on the curriculum etc., while deprived schools in inner cities become weaker and increasingly polarised at the bottom. We need smaller localised schools where local families send their children to be taught with people from different backgrounds. Instead we have independent and ‘good’ state schools selecting pupils carefully. (Check out the Finnish and Alberta [Canada] education systems for alternative ways of doing things.)

Some very deprived young people, often with a range of additional needs, are sent to schools with minimal social mix. When these schools then struggle for results, academisation and the rules of the fast food restaurant seem to be proposed as the only solution. Managers in schools are becoming increasingly cut-throat and brutal, putting pressure on staff, persecuting union members and representatives and forbidding meetings on site after concerns are raised about proposed changes. The higher levels of pay on the leadership scale are also being used to ensure middle managers within education are co-opted into the pursuit of academies as opposition is stifled. One year deals and flexible working conditions are becoming more widespread leading to job insecurity. Also, temporary deals ensure there is no opposition to school management plans. Some schools are just laying off permanent staff and telling them that they are ‘not required’ for the following academic year.

As the Con Dem cuts take effect we are seeing more and more staff redundancies, the Buildings Schools for the Future plans axed, bigger class sizes, department budgets cuts within schools, PFI leaving schools stranded with higher utility bills, cuts in support staff to vulnerable pupils, and the increase in cheaper and untrained staff teaching classes.

And when these cuts were announced in Parliament last year, what did we see from the Government benches? Laughing and cheering. The reality for real people in the real world is somewhat different.

Printer friendly page

Sorry Comments Closed

Comments are closed on this article