Commenting ahead of the Queen’s Speech, Kevin
Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
“Boris Johnson's new Government has the opportunity in this
Queen’s Speech to right the wrongs of successive Conservative-led
Governments.
“Promises made during the election campaigning on school
funding must be acted upon. Thanks to the pressure applied by the
NEU, the School Cuts coalition, parents and others, the
Conservatives promised a partial reversal of real terms cuts made
since 2015. Delivering on this promise would be a start but not
enough to ‘level up’ and secure the better education system
outlined by the Prime
Minister.
“Under current Government funding plans it is a simple
truth that 83% of schools will be worse off in April 2020 than in
2015 in real terms. Schools will have £2bn less spending power in
2020/21 than they did in 2015/16.
“The Prime Minister must face up to the fact that not
enough teachers want to stay in the job. As a result, we have
420,000 more pupils compared to 2015 but there are 3,500 fewer
teachers to teach them.
“We urge the Government to work with the NEU on
strengthening its strategy for teacher pay and workload and
create a fair accountability system so that we can retain
teachers in the job and give every child a great start.
“As we enter a new decade, we challenge the Government to
make a New Year’s resolution for schools – one that breaks from
the past, and aligns with the profession and parents in valuing
education.”
