Commenting on the IFS 'Annual report on education spending in
England', Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the
National Education Union said:
"This important report exposes the scale of Government
underfunding of education over the last decade. As the report
reveals the cuts to English school spending are the largest in
over 40 years.
'This is an historic failure of the nations children. It is also
striking that despite Government rhetoric of “levelling up” the
reverse is true. It is those schools that serve children from the
poorest backgrounds which have had their funding cut the hardest.
'Schools have the enormous challenge of trying to overcome the
effects of the pandemic; however, the funding allocated for the
National Tutoring Programme are not of a scale to make an impact
and the resources allocated to disadvantaged pupils will not
address the inequalities widened by the lockdown. Schools have
also had to spend considerable sums to mitigate the risk of
coronavirus spreading and most schools have received no support
for the Government.
'This comprehensive report makes sobering reading and the
Government must invest significant sums not just to reverse cuts
to education but also to allow schools to cut class sizes which
are amongst the highest in Europe. There are now a million
children educated in classes with more than 30 pupils in England.
'Children only get one chance to go to school, a whole generation
of pupils have had the whole of their time in school blighted by
cuts."
