Commenting on the report by the Education Policy Institute
highlighting the scale of funding cuts to 16-19
education, Chris Keates, General Secretary of
the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union,
said:
“The NASUWT has been warning for some time that much of the
post-16 sector is in a parlous financial state because of
Government cuts and a lack of scrutiny of how money is being
spent.
“Cuts have been made to per student funding and teachers’ pay and
the result has been a reduction in students’ learning hours since
2012.
“In addition, the increasing costs and ongoing funding
inequalities are reducing the learning opportunities for young
people, narrowing the range of subjects and courses colleges are
able to offer and are leading to the loss of life-changing
opportunities for students. This is economically short
sighted. High quality post-16 provision is critical to ensuring
young people have the skills to meet changing and global economic
needs.
“The current funding arrangements for colleges and sixth forms
are inadequate, allowing for the retention of high levels of
reserves at individual school and college levels at the same time
as cutting per student funding.
“The NASUWT will continue to campaign for a substantial above
inflation pay increase for sixth form college teachers, for above
inflation increases in post-16 funding during the next Spending
Review period and for a funding regime which ensures that post-16
funding is used appropriately.”
