School spending on staff development fell from £630 per teacher in 2018 to under £400 three years later, as budget lines were “squeezed” by increasing the proportion spent on staffing, analysis shows.
Analysis by data service SchoolDash reveals that per-teacher spending on staff development and training in mainstream state schools was at 63 per cent of the 2018 figure last year, in cash terms.
When you account for inflation, spending last year was at under 60 per cent of 2018 levels, which SchoolDash notes was from “an already low base”.
And the gap between spending in primary and secondary schools has narrowed, with primaries spending £725 per teacher back in 2018, falling to £424 last year - compared with a fall from £528 to £371 in secondaries.
The analysis shows that the spending equalled just £20 per pupil in 2021, which equates to 0.3 to 0.4 per cent of school budgets.
And while spending tended to be higher at academies, large multi-academy trusts and rural schools, all types of mainstream state schools saw reductions in their spend over the period.
Schools spending less on staff development
David Weston, chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust, a charity for professional development in schools and colleges, said it was hard to deliver a “great entitlement” to teachers without the appropriate money to do so.
SchoolDash partly puts the decrease in spending on development down to increased expenditure on staffing, noting that this “has barely kept pace with inflation while also squeezing other budget lines”.
In 2014, SchoolDash analysis found that just over 75 per cent of school budgets went on staff, but by 2021 this had risen to nearly 80 per cent.
And the service’s founder, Timo Hannay, expects this trend to continue in future years.
“Since 2014, increasing expenditure on staff has barely kept pace with inflation while also squeezing other budget lines, notably school maintenance, learning resource purchases and staff development,” he said.
“As the financial vice tightens through a combination of inflation and anticipated government spending cuts, it seems inevitable that these trends will not merely continue, but accelerate - with currently unknowable effects on pupils themselves.”
Mr Weston said there was “clear research” showing that schools can “only be really effective in recruiting and retaining staff if they’ve got access to really good professional development”.
He said a lower spend on training and development did not “necessarily” mean that the training was getting worse, and that a “silver lining” from the pandemic was that schools may have saved some money from remote training and development.
But he added that, generally, it was “much harder to deliver a great entitlement for teachers” unless there was more money.
“If we are seeing these cuts happening in 2021, we certainly know that they’re continuing into 2022 - I’ve spoken to many school leaders faced with unfunded pay rises, and some of them have had to make significant further cuts to professional development budgets”, he added.
“Schools need absolute clarity [on funding] so that they can plan for the next few years, but either way schools need to be protected from inflation increases.”
Research by the British Educational Suppliers’ Association earlier this year showed that spending on teaching aids and equipment was stuck below 2015-16 levels, as schools face mounting financial pressures.
And the SchoolDash analysis also shows that across all schools, spending on school maintenance, non-digital learning resources, digital learning resources and staff development have all fallen in per-pupil terms.
Economists have warned that budget pressures on schools will be “problematic” in future years as leaders face having to pay for unfunded salary rises and deal with the impact of high inflation - such as increasing energy costs.
Sector leaders have consistently criticised the government for the level of funding that education is receiving.
Earlier this month 12 staff and parent organisations wrote to the prime minister to warn that further budget cuts will inevitably mean the loss of teachers and support staff.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by 2024 - and are spending over £250 million - giving all teachers and school leaders access to world-class, evidence-based training and professional development at every stage of their career.
“Last autumn, we introduced a new suite of National Professional Qualifications to offer the best possible support to teachers and leaders wanting to expand their knowledge and skills.
“We understand that schools - much like wider society - are facing cost pressures due to international events driving up inflation and global energy prices, which is why we are providing schools with £53.8 billion this year in core funding, which includes a cash increase of £4 billion.”
