The Welsh government is being warned that “education is truly in a perilous state” thanks to “a perfect storm” of underfunding and rising costs.
The warning comes in the wakes of a survey of over 650 Welsh school leaders, which shows that most are looking to cut back on teachers and teaching assistants in order to balance their budgets.
The survey carried out by school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru received responses from 670 school leaders in Wales. The majority report that they will have to make redundancies next year because of rising costs and government underfunding.
The survey finds that 73 per cent of school leaders say they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours and 61 per cent say they are looking at reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours.
Just 5 per cent of schools report they will be able to pay their costs next academic year (2023-24) without going into deficit - meaning more than nine in 10 schools will not be able to balance their budgets.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said schools were being hit by “a perfect storm of costs”, including “eye-watering energy bills, spiralling costs to resources and supplies, and the financial impact of an unfunded pay increase this year”.
He said schools had made all the easy savings already and a reduction in teaching assistants and teachers would be “catastrophic”, leading to “larger class sizes and less support for children with the greatest needs”.
He added: “With no fat left to cut following a decade of austerity, many thousands of schools are now looking at falling into deficit unless they make swingeing cuts. Education is truly in a perilous state.”
Close to half (48 per cent) of schools said they would be forced to reduce non-educational support and services for children next year. This means cutting back on vital services such as counselling, therapy and mental health support.
Over half (56 per cent) said they would have to reduce spending on additional targeted interventions for pupils requiring additional support. This means pupils needing extra help or those with additional learning needs may not get the support they need.
Welsh schools are currently undergoing wide-ranging reform. The new curriculum began being introduced in September; new qualifications are in the pipeline and a new approach to supporting children with special needs is being introduced.
However, NAHT Cymru director Laura Doel warned that school leaders were being asked to do all of this “with one arm tied behind their backs”, given the shortage of funding they faced.
She said: “Unrealistic expectations are being placed on schools, and it is time the local authority employers and Welsh government realise that the impact of underfunding will go far beyond redundancies, it will have an impact on a generation of learners.”
