As the cost of living crisis continues to bite, the impact is being felt across the country, from households, to businesses, and also in the public sector. That includes schools, many of which are finding their funding stretched thin by rising costs.
Today’s polling of 1,428 teachers and senior leaders, part of our yearly teacher polling series conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), paints a stark picture of the situation faced by state schools in England. Across the board, schools are being forced to make cuts, from teaching assistants to school trips, support staff and sports.
Schools having to make cuts is not new, but the rate at which senior leaders are reporting these issues has risen sharply since 2022 (see table 1). For example, cuts to teaching assistants are now reported by 63% of senior leaders, up from 42% last year. Reports of cuts to spending on IT equipment have now risen to 42%, up from 27% in 2022.
And reports of cuts to trips and outings have more than doubled, now standing at 50%, up from 21% – a proportion that is even higher in schools with the most disadvantaged intakes, at 68%, compared to 44% in the least deprived schools. These findings are especially concerning given the importance of school trips in broadening the horizons of young people in low income families, who are less likely to have these experiences outside of those provided by school.
