Working for the Local school for nearly 12 years has brought to my attention how little the government cares about education. If they cared about the future of our nation they would care more about education. Instead of nurturing a service people have fought for the right to have, they are cutting the budget of schools nationwide. The worst hit are the smaller town and country schools, city schools are not as badly affected.
The problem with the way the funding for schools’ works is that a school gets a certain amount of money per student, 6th form students are worth more money.
Obviously, there's less people in rural and small towns but there's no form of compensation for this despite similar costs and the requirement to do the same work as they would in a city. Yes, the rural schools are smaller but they have the same problems, the same costs, the only difference is the size. The fundamental problem is that the funding system doesn't benefit anyone, the amount a school gets per student does not cover the costs of educating that student, costs such as the teachers.
The budget of the local school federation in my local town has been cut by £500,000 and the schools need more funding not less! The school has even had to make a public appeal to parents asking for donations.
It shouldn't be like this, it's up to the government to help and support the education system, parents are already paying taxes to be provided with this service, they shouldn't have to pay extra because the government isn't.
What about SEN funding?
Ask any SEN Teaching assistant, or as they're called now - SEN Learning Support Assistant, and they'll tell you how difficult it is to help students with SEN because of staff shortages, lack of funding for resources, and the amount of time doing admin and paper work to get the students' needs recognised by the local authority.
The SEN department must constantly re-apply for funding for students with SEN needs, as if the needs of students with a diagnosed condition changes, I suppose anything's possible!
I don't know who is managing the funding for SEN students but they don't seem to understand that ASD, Dyslexia or Dyspraxia doesn't go away! Sometimes a student doesn't get funding again and miss out on essential support in lessons.
Massively effecting their education, and the government wonder why results and performance of SEN students has declined. All the government and most management seem to be bothered about nowadays is the results, you know why? Because schools get more funding if they get good results. Therefore, creating an educational business rather than the service it should be.
