19 November 2004
Ministers should undertake a thorough financial analysis of all new responsibilities handed to schools and guarantee funding for indirect costs such as new buildings, the National Union of Teachers has said.
The development of extended and full service schools, providing childcare, health and other social services, will generate substantial financial pressures on capital and revenue budgets, the union says. These must be fully recognised and built into the local government finance settlement.
The union also wants an annual target set for the total number of teachers and support staff employed, again costed and built into the settlement.
Local education advisory forums, bringing together schools, councillors and parents, should be set up to advise on and oversee these developments.
The union — which made the call in its five-year plan for education, published on November 15 — has had a strained relationship with the government since its refusal to go along with proposed workload agreements.
NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said ministers should focus on providing 'schools for every community' that are properly resourced so every child will benefit. 'For thousands of parents the "right to choose" is an illusion. In reality it is available only to a few and exacerbates social division. Parents want good local schools rather than a range of different institutions inequitably funded,' he added.
The NUT plan, Bringing down the barriers, also demands a shake-up of the national curriculum, an end to selection and league tables and the replacement of the watchdog Ofsted with a less bureaucratic inspectorate.
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