The Secret Teacher has attracted plenty of correspondence in recent weeks. In today’s edition, we hear from a reader whose experience in the classroom has changed significantly due to cuts in funding.
I have been teaching for 20 years and the heart and soul of teaching has been utterly ripped out of it during that time. Funding has been cut so much.
Ten years ago I would have classroom assistant time at least once a day – and you were allowed to ask them to photocopy, put stuff on the walls, get reading books, etc. as well as working with children – not so now.
Just last week we were told that our pupil support time allocation/budget is being slashed again, so despite the fact our school has far more pupils than it did when I started there 10 years ago, we have about half the number of support staff. We cannot do the job without them.
Children’s needs are getting greater and greater; behaviour and parent attitude gets worse and worse and we spend half the time firefighting, not actually teaching. I know a lot of people considering other jobs (including me) because the job simply can’t be done manageably any more.
