Over half of England’s schools are being forced to consider making staff redundant after being left with “no fat left to cut”, the head teachers’ union has warned.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said that years of Government underfunding combined with rising costs, including “eye-watering energy bills”, has left educators facing difficult choices to avoid falling into deficit. A new survey, the largest ever of school leaders, found that two thirds (66%) of head teachers said they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours.
Half (50%) of the 11,000 head teachers asked also said that they are looking at reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours in their school. NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman blamed a “perfect storm of costs” for the worrying state of the education sector, and raised concerns about the impact the cuts could have on students.
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Mr Whiteman warned: “With no fat left to cut following a decade of…
