Four day week? Fury after parents warned some schools considering shorter weeks amid 'catastrophic' cost crisis
27 October 2022, 11:24 | Updated: 27 October 2022, 11:28
Parents have been warned that some schools are considering going down to a four-day week due to their "catastrophic" financial situation.
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A survey of 630 headteachers and business leaders by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) shone a light on the financial struggles of schools and colleges in England.
Seventeen of the schools surveyed are considering moving to a four-day week - nearly 3 per cent of the total.
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Nearly all the schools - 98 per cent - said they would have to make some kind of financial savings over the next few academic years because of rising costs.
Other measures being considered include reducing the numbers of teachers and teaching assistants, increasing class sizes and reducing curriculum options for students.
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A number of factors are pushing up costs for schools.
Soaring energy bills, increasing catering costs, nationally-agreed pay awards for staff that are not covered by additional government funding and the requirement to hire more support staff - for example if there are lots of children with special educational needs - are just some of the contributing factors, the survey found.
Some secondary schools are seeing extra costs of up to £500,000 this year - equal to the cost of employing around 10 teachers.
One headteacher surveyed said the impact of cost pressures was "devastating".
"I have been here for 15 years and put my heart and soul into improving this school," they said.
"It has been tough, but it has worked; this is now going to be thrown away.|
They said they had "no option but to make significant redundancies" which would result in increased class sizes, more work for senior colleagues and the erosion of improvements that have been made.
"I am completely disillusioned," they said.
Another said the the economic situation was "catastrophic" and the scale of savings needed was simply "unachievable".
"Our forecast budget, which was previously positive, is now dire," they said.
"We would have to fundamentally change our offer to manage.
"The quality of education we will be able to provide will be substantially reduced."
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The idea of a four-day week has drawn heavy criticism.
One Twitter user branded it a "national disgrace", and the director of campaign group UsForThem said it amounted to a "betrayal".
"That school leaders are in a position where they have to contemplate a four-day week is a betrayal of our children," Arabella Skinner told MailOnline.
"Parents are in despair as to what this means for their children’s education, and also the impact this will have on their ability to hold down their jobs as we enter a cost of living crisis."
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ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton said the future of England's schools was "bleak" without urgent government action.
He said schools and colleges were a "vital public service" and should not be treated as a "soft target for government cuts".
"School leaders in this survey use words such as ‘catastrophic’ and ‘devastating’ to describe the financial situation they are facing and the impact on their pupils," he said.
"It is clear that the future is bleak unless the government acts urgently.
"No government can claim to be serving the public interest by presiding over an education funding crisis which cuts provision and imperils standards.
"And no government which does so can expect to remain in power at the next general election."
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He went on: "To make matters worse, we are concerned about the possibility of further public spending cuts being imposed in order to rescue the nation’s finances from the hole dug by the government.
"It should be clear to MPs of all parties that it is simply untenable to once again sacrifice schools and colleges on the altar of austerity, as happened in the wake of the last financial crisis.
"Education should not be seen as a soft target for government cuts but a vital public service and an investment in the future.
"It is imperative that the new Prime Minister and Chancellor make education a priority by improving the level of funding in their forthcoming financial plans."
