Caroline blogs on today's NUT lobby: 

Today I was lobbied by constituents visiting Parliament to share their concerns about education funding ahead of next week’s Spending Review. Over the past 5 years education has been subjected to extensive cuts and yet more are planned, with the Government warning that it will freeze school funding at its current cash level per pupil. Research carried out by the National Union of Teachers paints a stark picture of the impact on both children and those working in our schools: nearly 60% of those surveyed report bigger class sizes; 45% state that teachers were more likely to be paying more towards classroom resources than previously; and half of respondents report cuts in support to pupils with Special Educational Needs and English as a second language.

The post 16 sector has been particularly hard hit, with sixth form colleges like Varndean, BHASVIC and City College suffering a 14% funding cut in real terms since 2010.  As well as having to contend with the prospect of more cuts to come, sixth forms are also now facing what are known as “area based reviews”, which could result in them being forced to merge with larger further education colleges. This approach is by no means a silver bullet with regards achieving financial savings and there’s plenty of evidence that mergers actually generate additional costs in the first few years, placing a considerable burden placed on staff and governors in the meantime. Sixth form colleges are the most successful post 16 institutions: they outperform school and academy sixth forms while educating more disadvantaged students and receiving less funding. It makes no sense to undermine them or the rest of our education sector as this Government is doing, with its ideologically driven short termism and failure to invest in future generations.