'School cut plans have come as a real shock': Scrap closures and classroom assistant axe, calls teachers' union
A leading teachers’ union has called for sweeping plans to close or merge schools and heavily cut back on classroom assistants to be scrapped.
Unveiled by Education Minister Paul Givan yesterday, Stormont officials say the radical moves are needed to deal with a looming cash crisis that within three years will see the sector stuck with budgets that are around £1.1bn less than it needs.
But the Northern Ireland national official for teachers’ union NASUWT argues the cuts will do damage on the front line, and everyone from principals to parents are now worried about what their impact will be.
Justin McCamphill told the News Letter: “This has come as a real shock. Parents, teachers and school leaders will be very apprehensive at the prospect of such widespread and damaging cuts.
“Education is a cornerstone of any civilised society. When governments slash school budgets, they are making a political choice and it is teachers, school staff and of course children who pay the price.
“We know what happens when austerity is forced onto essential services; it means communities suffer, inequality deepens, and opportunities are lost. These proposed cuts must be reversed.”
Mr Givan’s five-year plan for a massive revamp of the education sector includes shutting or merging schools across the province that are too small or have too many empty desks, something it’s argued is needed as pupil numbers continue to fall due to declining birth rates.
Meanwhile the amount of money spent on special needs education is to be chopped back, Mr Givan stating that relying on one-to-one support from classroom assistants “is not always the most effective or inclusive way to meet pupils’ needs”. Instead, he’s proposing to give schools their own individual budgets that will have to cover all their special needs spending, from which they’ll be expected to create “team-based flexible support” for pupils.
The number of children who get transport taking them directly from home to school is to be heavily reduced, the minister suggesting Northern Ireland’s criteria for granting the measure is too lax and the province should be brought into line with more strict systems seen in England, Scotland and Wales.
Mr Givan also wants measures to tackle schools that overspend their budgets, setting up a traffic light system to identify schools with the worst debt problems.
The delivery of school meals is to be reworked as well, proposing that instead of each school making its own food, a single kitchen would prepare dinners for multiple places in a given area.
Department of Education officials argue the massive overhaul is needed as serious cash problems the sector currently faces will get much worse over the next few years, unless substantial and abrupt changes are made.
This financial year, education is £250m short of the money it needs, said officials. Under a three-year draft budget prepared by Finance Minster John O’Dowd, which has yet to be approved, education officials say the funding gap will be over £800m next year and more than £1.15bn by 2028 – something officials describe as “a structural funding crisis”.
Mr Givan has said job losses are inevitable under the five-year plan, but stated wherever possible staff would be transferred to other positions.