Schools have been experiencing a funding crisis for some time, school spending per pupil in England fell by 9% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2019-20, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the largest cut in over 40 years. Underfunding has been an ongoing issue in education for years and this impacts on children’s outcomes. Many headteachers in primary and secondary schools in England are having to cut staff, IT equipment, trips and more.
A survey of London headteachers and senior school leaders (Talking Heads), showed that increased costs due to a range of pressures, such as growing pupil numbers, additional pensions and national insurance contributions are making it difficult for schools to balance the budget. Schools with budget deficits are left to decide what to keep and what to discard given the limited resources.
Added to this, UK schools and colleges are facing a severe staffing crisis. There is an estimated shortage of nearly 11,000 graduate Early Years teachers in England, according to Save the Children. Subjects such as mathmatics, sciences and languages have seen the worst shortages of qualified teachers, as graduates of these subjects are often drawn to jobs other than teaching that offer higher pay.
The falling birth rate is set to have a serious impact on the finances and even the survival prospects of schools. The 2020 fertility rate was 1.58 children per woman in England and Wales, and even lower in Scotland at 1.29. These figures have decreased every year since 2012. The impact of this falling birth rate are schools being financially stretched, redundancies, bigger class sizes and school closures.
As the coronavirus pandemic roils the job market, millennials are increasingly deciding that their college experience isn’t worth the student debt they took out for it.
In the past students have been very accepting of large amounts of debt. However, as the economic issues associated with unpayable loans begin to manifest, it’s possible that new students will take an adverse stance on student debt. If that’s the case, it could reduce the numbers of students in English universities.
The pandemic exacerbated financial pressures, income from leasing out school facilities and venues was lost and additional expenditures were incurredon Covid essentials including personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, signage and digital equipment. The government’s Covid catch up budget of £1.4 billion was only one tenth of the £15 billion recommended by the education recovery commissioner for England.
Despite funding challenges, it is clear that many schools have been working hard to help pupils to catch up academically. During the pandemic gaps in pupil's learning were exacerbated either because content had not been taught during lockdowns or because pupils did not learn well remotely. Assessment information was needed in order to adapt the curriculum and help identify knowledge gaps and pupils who needed extra support to catch up.
This assessment information has been critical in monitoring where curriculum adaptations were having an impact and gaps in learning were closing. Understanding the different student approaches to learning is considered to be one of the top challenges faced by teachers. A diverse set of learning abilities and learning styles make it difficult to use a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Despite the success of online learning for some schools during the period of closures, nothing substitutes being in school to learn. Many children felt isolated and detached from school life and missed the additional enrichment activities. Building up the school community and regaining excellence in sport, performing and creative arts has been a big challenge for heads.
Added to this schools faced delays in accessing external services in relation to mental health. Addressing mental health needs in school is important because 1 in 5 children and youth have a diagnosable emotional, behavioural or mental health disorder. Many schools are now training teachers in mental health first aid and a general proficiency is forming in this area among staff.
Lack of access to technology is affecting children’s learning and many schools are behind in preparing children for a future driven by technology. A 2020 survey conducted for Lenovo on teachers across the UK found that 65% of teachers want more training to utilise existing technology, and nearly 70% believe more computers are needed for students.
Many low-income families cannot afford laptops and Wi-Fi connection for their children. A survey published by Microsoft in 2020 found that just 1% of primary state schools provide devices that their pupils can take home, compared with 38% of private primary schools. As such, the digital divide is contributing to the attainment gap between rich and poor children in the UK.
The government, in an attempt to address this is providing funding for ‘levelling up’ their technology as well as a £150 million fund to support schools most in need to upgrade their Wi-Fi connections.
Social Value is the overall value that schools, MATs, colleges and universities can gain from money that is spent on procurement. This can be from providing improvements through economic, environmental or social areas. Social Value is now often a 5-10% weighting on educational tenders.
Institutions receive a lot of public money and the government has set itself some ambitious sustainability targets. It is likely to make that funding increasingly dependent on the ability of institutions to deliver on sustainability measures. Many universities have of course signed up to being net zero by 2030.
Arguably the most pressing challenge in education today is educational inequality. This is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including school funding, qualified and experienced teachers, books, and technologies. Schools in deprived areas face more difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers and have smaller budgets for electronic equipment. Children in lower- income households tend to fare less well in school than their better-off peers.