I interviewed a local teacher Sylvia Demshall, at my nearby Primary School, in Croydon to discuss the impending budget cuts that will soon hit Britain like a flood. (Note: I asked for permission to record all answers in full.)
First of all Ms. Demshall, how much is the government cutting on schools?
Well Maddy, I cannot tell you for certain but my school, and others in the area are facing cuts of up to £3bn by 2019-20. This means that not only will our maintenance work have to go on hold for the time being, but also that each student gets less spent on them.
So, how are the budget cuts affecting your school?
The budget cuts are deeply damaging to our school because we have had to restructure our whole teaching assistant and dinner lady system. The head teacher cut 12 dinner ladies in January, 2018 and has replaced them with the teaching assistants, who were already working within the school. This means that teaching assistants, although getting a slight wage increase, have to work longer hours and get a shorter lunch break. This problem is not just affecting us, but other schools across the nation.
Is there a shortage in university students majoring in teaching and childcare?
I have noticed that in my 15 years of teaching, we get very young teachers leaving after only being in the profession for three years. This is down to the pressure that the government places on schools and then on teachers to produce the best data and results, the amount of work and unpaid hours is appalling and in the wages in the first 5 years are not substantial enough to warrant all of this hard work.
