‘Crisis Fatigue’ for schools and staff in the North East
Schools in the region are voicing concerns over their school budgets and the recruitment and retention crisis. Last week, in a roundtable discussion with North East school leaders and MP Catherine McKinell, schools expressed worries over the pressures faced due to the unfunded teacher pay rise alongside the cost-of-living crisis and energy crisis.
The National Education Union (NEU) is also warning of potential strikes after a preliminary electronic ballot showed the majority of members in favour of taking strike action over pay. Unions will issue members with a postal ballot from October 31st to confirm a strike to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.
Unfunded pay offer adding additional pressure for leaders
The Government offered teachers a 5 per cent pay rise in July. However, due to inflation, the pay rise has been deemed insufficient by many and the pay offer is not fully funded and will instead have to come from schools already overstretched existing budgets. This puts added pressure on schools who are already dealing with rapidly rising energy costs, the cost of living crisis, the aftermath of the pandemic and a recruitment and retention crisis.
Responses so far to the Schools North East Autumn 2022 State of the Region survey highlights these pressures in the North East. Over half of schools expect energy bills to more than double. Over 90% of schools said that without additional support to cover energy costs and unfunded teacher pay, then they will be pushed into a deficit in the next three years. 75% of schools said that they would have to use reserves to fund increased costs.
On recruitment and retention, just over half of schools said that they were struggling with recruiting new staff, both due to a lack of quality and quantity of applicants. Our State of the Region survey is still open, and can be filled out at the following link.
Feedback from our regular roundtables with school leaders has similarly emphasised the increasing challenges. Budget challenges are ‘all-consuming’, with schools having to constantly crisis manage rather than focus on wider school improvement and strategic planning. Despite these challenges, it is unclear if addressing them is central to the government’s policy agenda.
Cost of living crisis impact on North East school budgets
In the Schools North East roundtable with Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell, schools voiced that they are facing significant budget challenges as a result of rising energy bills and unfunded staff pay increases. Schools said that they are hit twice by the cost of living crisis. First, this impact is direct on school budgets. Secondly, schools see the pressures in the communities they work in. Schools experience firsthand the day-to-day impact of rising costs on disadvantaged families.
The roundtable also found that staff and leaders are struggling with ‘crisis fatigue’ as they continue to deal with the impact of the pandemic, and now increasing financial pressures. This is exacerbating challenges around recruitment and retention, and so impacting on delivery of education. Schools noted the loss of support staff and teaching assistants. These are challenging jobs which require professional skills, but schools are having to question what they can realistically afford.
Additionally, enrichment activities are being affected. The cost of fuel is making transportation
prohibitive, and schools are limited in what voluntary contributions they can ask from parents.
These visits are important as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, providing valuable cultural capital and experiences. As such, the financial pressures are threatening a narrowing of the curriculum in those areas and families least able to cope with this.
Cost of living forcing educators to strike
With frequent train strikes, Royal Mail strikes and other sectors proposing strike action this year, over below inflation pay rises, it comes as no surprise that many teachers are considering strike action. The NEU is the largest teaching union in England and Wales.
On October 5th, the NEU wrote to the Education Secretary asking to make sufficient funds available to avoid the possibility of a dispute.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU, said they were prepared to meet with Kit Malthouse and his ministers stating:
‘No one wants to take strike action, but education staff can no longer take year after year of below inflation pay increases which have had a major impact on the value of their pay since 2010. It is resulting in an exodus from the profession with almost 1 in 3 teachers in England leaving within the first 5 years. Government continually fails to meet its recruitment figures for teachers as the profession has now become so unattractive to graduates while support staff are asked to take on more and more work for pay that does not enable them to make ends meet.’
At the end of September, staff at Newcastle College joined college staff across the country in striking over pay and the impact of the cost of living crisis. Members of the University and College Union, (UCU) were joined at the Newcastle college picket line by UCU Regional Official Iain Owens. Iain Owens demanded more respect from the government for the further education sector.
Teaching Unions in Northern Ireland, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), NAHT and NEU have also voted to co-ordinate strike action.
The country ballots for strike action
In the initial unofficial NEU poll, 98% of members said they wanted a ‘fully funded, above-inflation pay rise’ and 86% said they would vote ‘yes’ to strike action to receive it.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is also in the process of preparing for strike action with their most recent poll indicating that 94% of teachers reject the 5% pay offer and 91% willing to strike. The EIS ballot will open October 12 and close November 8th.
The DfE responded that they are incredibly disappointed by the unions threatening strike action stating it will affect school children and disrupt parents’ lives.
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East commented:
“The unfunded pay rises, teaching and support staff, risk a very significant impact on NE school budgets at a time when they and their communities can least afford it. It is another blow to already creaking budgets, on top of massively increased energy bills and the impact of double digit inflation. Our data indicates a severe impact on school reserves and the potential for future redundancies if schools have to also pick up the cost of unfunded pay increases.‘
We want to hear your voice. Fill out the State of the Region Survey here to help us create a bigger picture about the current issues facing schools in the North East: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScfGvUYGLDYhooigBLXMP5x-UySJGc5daRI7zIxjjz6SAl4eQ/viewform
We love to hear good news from North East Schools, to share your news with Schools North East please tag @SchoolsNE on Twitter or apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGgTpbLixAqIprwSS2JXd_AFcKYD5Ahtug_ol7BdHDfgHRsw/viewform
