Warning school staffing cuts ‘harming children’
HUNDREDS of school staff, including more than 100 teachers, have been made redundant across Wales in continuing cuts which unions insist will damage children’s education.
Headteachers are struggling to make ends meet with rising bills and budget cuts.
Figures obtained from councils under Freedom of Information (FoI) requests show 245 school staff are known to have been made redundant in the 2023-24 financial year to April, including more than 75 teachers.
Some of those job losses were compulsory.
That is more than four times higher than the previous year and the figure is likely to be higher still, as not all 22 local education authorities provided data requested.
In the 2023-23 financial year, 50 school staff were made redundant, including more than 24 teachers.
Again, the true total will be higher as not all local education authorities provided data requested under FoI.
Headteachers across Wales have been cutting the curriculum offer for exams and making class sizes larger by combining years as they try to balance the books. Meanwhile, there is a continuing recruitment crisis in some subjects.
Education Editor
Unions and school leaders’ representatives described the job losses as “disturbing”.
They said key Welsh Government aims, such as closing the attainment gap and improving attendance, would not be met.
More than half of all schools have seen cuts in real terms since 2010-11, they estimated.
Neil Butler, Wales national official for the teaching union NASUWT, said: “The fact that we are still losing teachers in Wales is disturbing. An increase in class sizes, which is the inevitable result of teacher redundancy, will lead to lower standards and poorer learner behaviour.
“It will also lead to lower morale in the profession as workload increases. We need more teachers, not less.
“Education funding must be a priority for the new Westminster government because, whilst the Welsh Government has control over schools, it does not control the money supply.”
Eithne Hughes, director of the Association of School and College Leaders Wales, said 80% of ASCL members have said they are likely to make redundancies this year and that this would affect their school’s offer to children. Class sizes would be bigger, some subjects cut and support for those needing it would also have to be cut, among other things.
“At the end of the line it’s about children being affected. That’s what people go into the job for, the children,” she said.
“Schools are in an extraordinarily difficult situation, being squeezed on all sides. School leaders are at their wits’ end trying to do a good job with so little.”
With education devolved, some have blamed the Conservative government in Westminster for not providing enough funding to Wales, while others say councils aren’t handing on enough of the money provided by the Welsh Government to schools.
Unions insist the school funding situation in England is “not much better” and is not good in Scotland or Northern Ireland either.
New data released this month by the School Cuts Cymru campaign says funding cuts “implemented by the UK Government” have resulted in 69% of comparable maintained schools in Wales facing real-terms cuts since 2010-11.
In total, 922 schools in Wales have faced cuts, with real-terms per pupil funding falling by £343 (7%) for primary pupils, £388 (7%) for secondary and £411 (2%) for special schools.
The School Cuts website is run by the National Education Union, the Association of School and College Leaders and school leaders’ union NAHT, and supported by Parentkind and the National Governance Association.
Ahead of the General Election, they are collectively calling for all political parties to commit to a plan to invest the funding needed in education “to eradicate all school cuts”.
They estimate that to restore funding back to 2010-11 levels in real terms for all schools in Wales would require an investment of £154m.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The amount of funding set aside for school budgets is for local authorities to determine, we do not fund schools directly. Local authorities are expected to work with schools to ensure funding arrangements are effective in supporting and raising the achievement of all learners, this includes funding for school staff.
“Despite significant budget pressures, we have continued to prioritise public services, with an increase to local government funding of 3.3% in 2024-25, building on previous increases of 9.4% in 2022-23 and 7.4% in 2023-24.”