‘Crisis of funding’

Unite delegatae Sarah Hacker joined the debate on education, on Sunday September 22.

She said that “as a parent, school governor and councillor, I speak as someone who has real experience of what has happened to our schools.

“There is a crisis of funding. Schools in England have had a 13-year real-terms freeze – an unprecedented period without growth. There is a crisis of accountability. In the last decade we have seen our school system transformed.”

Hacker continued, “Around half of all children in state-funded schools are now taught by an academy trust. And a recent select committee report complained that “parents and local people have to fight to obtain even basic information about their children’s schools”.

“These schools are accountable not to local councillors but to officials in Whitehall. And as a recent Education Policy Institute report found, academies do not perform better than maintained schools. And we are facing a crisis in respect of the wellbeing of our schoolchildren.”

Hacker explained, “They are at risk of being turned into exam machines rather than experiencing all the benefits of a full, well rounded education that allows them to flourish.

“Creative arts subjects are being hit in many schools. Music, art and drama are being cut back in favour of so-called ‘core academic subjects’.”

She concluded, “We welcome Labour’s commitment to a New Education Service in England which must combine democratic oversight, universal standards and the opportunity for everyone to flourish.”