Funding shortfalls have meant increasing numbers of children with special educational needs are attending schools outside their council area, according to figures obtained by The Observer.
Parents are being increasingly pressured into home-schooling leaving councils unable to ensure children are adequately educated, the Children’s Commissioner for England has said.
Between financial controversies and more fundamental questions about sustainability, the academies sector is crying out for transparency, writes Rachel Willcox.
Increasing levels of child poverty are affecting children and young people’s education, with schools dealing with ‘Dickensian’ levels of squalor, a major teaching union has warned.
More than 1,000 head teachers from across England marched today and delivered a letter to the chancellor to convey their concerns about the state of school funding.
Labour would scrap academies and free schools and return control of education back to councils, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner told the party’s conference in Liverpool today.
Councils have long supplied schools with services from finance to catering. With market changes, they need to act to keep this income, says Richard Harries.
If the government is serious about improving the life chances of poorer children, it should reconsider its plans for grammar schools, says the Education Policy Institute’s Natalie Perera.
The schools watchdog has failed to hit targets while suffering “constants cuts” to its budget for more than a decade, the National Audit Office has said.
The education minister has come under fire from both sides of the Commons for failing to confirm schools will not see cuts as a result of the new funding formula.
