Cost of living crisis impacts on NE schools
The impact of the cost of living crisis is being felt all over the North East by families, schools and teachers. Schools report struggling to recruit and retain staff due to the financial stress felt across the country as inflation and costs soar.
With almost 1 in 3 students in the North East now entitled to free school meals, and speculation that these numbers don’t truly reflect the true need, the ramifications of the cost of living is impacting hard upon our schools. The North East has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic as existing high levels of deprivation have been badly exacerbated.
Recruitment and retention
James Wilson, Co-Headteacher at Duchess’s Community High School commented about the cost of living crisis ‘most certainly’ affecting his school.
“We have had staff leave the profession this year and move into private industry due to the wage disparity. We have also had a number of staff leave due to the increase in petrol. To be told by a member of staff that they do not want to leave our team but cannot afford to continue to pay the petrol to drive up the A1 everyday is frustrating. One idea we are pursuing with a local pharmaceutical firm is to arrange a shared bus from Gosforth to allow staff an option to get to work at low cost.”
In School North East’s Multi Academy Trust CEO Roundtable this month, school leaders voiced concerns that they continue to face significant recruitment challenges, especially for non-teaching roles. School leaders spoke of their concerns about current national policy rarely taking into account what it is like working in rural areas such as Northumberland.
Staff are increasingly being expected to take on a wide range of responsibilities, despite already being at capacity in delivering academic ‘catch-up’. The additional workload combined with huge costs in living expenses combine to drive a nascent crisis in recruitment and retention. However, school leaders add that the problems with recruitment go beyond pay.
Cost of living crisis impacts on school staff
This week also saw significant press coverage of teachers having to use food banks to get by as inflation hits a 40 year high with rocketing fuel and energy bills. Schools are receiving fewer job applications, and it is difficult for schools to compete with other sectors, on pay and flexible working; especially for those schools in rural areas where the cost of commuting needs to be considered when applying for a vacancy.
To further increase pressure on school staff and students, this week train strikes disrupted transport services in the UK, affecting many students travelling towards exams. Students and teachers were requested to plan around rail strikes themselves, with the DfE asking Head Teachers on Monday to instead rely upon their schools existing contingency plans and to consider financially supporting students with alternative transportation.
Once again, schools resources are being badly stretched as they try to mitigate issues outside of their control. North East schools have been the fourth emergency service through the pandemic and supported students under unprecedented circumstances. Following the rail strike, there have been suggestions that teachers and NHS staff will also take action with union’s calling for pay rises to match inflation rates in an attempt to tackle the ongoing cost of living crisis. Teaching strikes are suggested to take place over the Autumn term.
Beth Farhat, Regional Secretary for the Northern Region of the NEU spoke to Schools North East about proposed strikes.
“Teachers are reporting they can’t afford to eat properly yet continue to buy classroom resources and feed impoverished children. This will only get worse unless we demand an inflation busting pay rise for all including support and supply staff. The debate on pay and the cost of living crisis was pivotal at the National Education Union Annual Conference.”
On Monday, Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretaries for the NEU wrote a letter to Nadhim Zahawi, highlighting significant issues around current pay levels within teaching and sharing ‘one in eight newly qualified teachers left the job in their first year of teaching’.
Beth Farhat further stated:
‘The case for a better deal for teachers has been set out in our letter to the Secretary of State. If it should fall on deaf ears, and teachers are offered a pay rise significantly below inflation, then we will proceed to an indicative ballot of our members. Teachers have had enough of a government which simply does not value them. The combination of unsustainable hours, the work intensity during those hours and ever-falling pay levels are damaging for our schools and the young people we are educating. The government has so far been unwilling to acknowledge and properly remunerate the work that teachers do.’
‘Irresponsible’ call for pay increase
Despite the impact upon schools, Nadhim Zahawi released his response to the NEU’s calls for strikes, acknowledging teachers as ‘everyday heroes’ but stated that calling for an increase above inflation is ‘disappointing’ and ‘irresponsible’. He claimed the proposed strike action would ‘disrupt students’ education further and said that it was ‘unforgivable’ and ‘wrong’. Zahawi reasons that the government can’t consider such a pay raise at a time when there’s a war in Europe and issues with supply chains post-Covid, claiming that the inflation that we are currently experiencing will abate.
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