By Ursula Duddy
Reporter
Principals of Derry schools are warning of industrial action and urging parents to join them in the fight against a school funding crisis costing parents over £1,200 per child a year.
It follows a meeting held in Holy Family Primary School on Thursday, organised by the National Association of Head Teachers of Northern Ireland (NAHT NI), in which educationalists outlined the extent of the crisis, which is believed to be the worst in more than 30 years.
Paul McClenaghan, President of NAHT (NI), chaired Thursday's meeting and said that children in Northern Ireland, in some cases, are receiving almost half as much funding as in other areas of the UK.
And following a recent announcement that the Education Department is facing £105m of cash pressures in 2017/18, there are concerns that the situation will only get worse.
Mr McClenaghan told an audience of parents, teachers and head teachers at Holy Family PS: “Investment in schooling in Northern Ireland lags significantly behind other parts of the UK.
“Spending on pre-school, primary and secondary education per pupil is 46% higher in Scotland, 18% higher in England and 31% higher in Wales.
“In addition, parents contribute more to the cost of education in Northern Ireland than any other region of the UK, on average £1222.30. This is not acceptable.
“Children in Northern Ireland are not worth less than children in other parts of the UK.”
Mr McClenaghan explained that the way the money is distributed to schools in Northern Ireland is different from the rest of the UK with NI funds being controlled by central government.
Unfair system
He said that, because of this system, which all contributors at the meeting agreed was an unfair one, there are serious concerns that the 1.5% increase in education spending contained within the Northern Ireland budget 2017/18 put forward last Monday will not benefit schools.
Mr McClenaghan said that the NAHT (NI) had already been to Westminster to lobby the MPs and went with schools from England and Wales. He said these schools were shocked at how low funding is in Northern Ireland.
“The English principals were telling the MPs they were down to under £4,000 per pupil and they thought that was a crisis,” he said.
“We told them we had £2,007 per pupil. They looked at us agog and said, ‘How could that happen?’”
He continued: “Parents in Northern Ireland contribute more to their children’s education than in any other part of the UK.
“It has been calculated that every parent in Northern Ireland is paying upwards of £1,200 per pupil per year to their school. This is supposed to be a society where education is paid for by our taxes but yet parents are having to stump up more than anywhere else and this is the poorest region of anywhere on these islands and this is the place where parents have least.”
Dire and unfair
Mr McClenaghan said it is time for parents to be aware how dire the situation has gotten.
“Parents need to get on board with our governors, principals and vice principals; what we need you to do is lobby whoever can, in your schools there are sample letters to send, write those letters, talk to council representatives, MLAs and MPs ask them how they are going to move this forward for us.
“I believe our politicians are interested in education but they’re caught up in the chase for resources that our system sets up for individual schools and individual children but we should be in a chase for resources for all our children with fair funding for our schools.
Distribution system wrong
Garry Matthewson, Principal of Holy Family Primary School where the meeting was held, said there was enough money coming into the education system but that it was not being distributed correctly from central government.
Mr Matthewson said that it took 10 years for a ‘nurture unit’ in his school to be properly funded. A unit that offers a short term, focused intervention addressing barriers to learning arising from social, emotional or behavioural difficulties in a supportive manner.
However, in Glasgow there were 58 such units funded in primary school and 19 in pre-schools.
He also said that schools do not have access to funding to spend where and when they need it but that it is meted out by central government.
“Our children deserve the exact same as other children in these islands and, if truth be told, given our local history, our children deserve more,” he said.
“I don’t want to be here talking about finance, I’m interested in education and I’m interested in our children. We need the proper resources.
“If we don’t have access to our school savings, to me, that’s theft. The money doesn’t belong to the Department of Education, it doesn’t belong to Gavin Boyd (Chief Executive) to put in a big hole in the Education Authority, the money belongs to the children of Holy Family and our governors have worked really, really hard to manage our budget tightly over many, many years so we have savings.
“The Permanent Secretary (of the Department of Education) told me that we don’t have access to those savings – there’s something fundamentally and inherently wrong about that. How is the Department of Education supporting our children?”
Pound coin put first
He added: “If we can’t use our budget and use our savings in the way the common funding scheme is designed to let us to do, we can’t deliver.
“Can you imagine being told you can’t spend your salary on what you want or being told the money you’ve saved for your holidays or Christmas doesn’t count and you’re not allowed to use it – that’s the way our education system is working presently.
“It is not working for the best interests of children in actual fact it is almost working deliberately against children because it’s putting the pound coin in front of our children.
“Balancing the books isn’t going to produce the outcomes that our children need.”
Special needs restrictions
Mary McCallion, Principal of St Brigid’s Primary School was similarly outraged at the funding crisis and said that she has had to ‘significantly reduce special needs provision right through the school’. She said that although the school regrets the measure, they have had to implement it due to lack of funding.
She also mention the nurture centre at St Brigid’s which she said the school had to ‘beg and borrow’ until ‘someone saw the light’ and they received some funding.
Ms McCallion also said she was ‘aggrieved’ about how schools did not have access to their own funding.
She said: “Governors are the managers of our school, I’m responsible to the governors of our school, I am not responsible to the Education Authority (EA) and yet I have sent invoices into the EA for essential and necessary work that was provided by qualified tradesmen with public liability insurance and I have had their invoices returned and I have been told they are not paying them on behalf of my governors on the budget that the governors hold for our school.
“I consider that this something that needs to be taken up by every one of us in this room because I’m not going to wait for the companies that are responsible for this in the EA. There are long waits and in some instances the work doesn’t get done before serious health and safety issues arise.”
Deserve more
Ms McCallion added: “We deserve the highest level of funding in order that we can provide them with a future that, perhaps, some of our previous generation went through a system that was in turmoil because of our particular situation.”
Ms McCallion encouraged everyone present to lobby by writing and tweeting MLAs and the Secretary of State and other relevant bodies.
David Canning, who was the Principal of Strabane Primary School for over 32 years, said it is the worst financial crisis in Northern Irish schools that he has ever seen: “I have never seen a financial situation like the one you have now, I retired in August so I saw the start of it but I’m glad I’m not in it. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
He said the new system denying schools access to the money they saved was ‘an insult’.
“The money was given to the Board of Governors and it’s the Board of Governors who are financially liable for that, it was placed in their hands, not in the hands of the EA and not in the hands of the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Education. We were told all of a sudden, it’s there but you can’t touch it. That’s ridiculous. People have been treated very badly, our children have been treated very badly and this is no way to run an education system.”
Sympathies
Mr Canning said that those working in education had his sympathies and that he was still working and lobbying for them as his ‘heart still lies with children and education’.
Sean Harkin from People Before Profit also spoke lending his support and encouraged ‘mobilisation and action’.
He invited head teachers, teachers, parents and even the students themselves to express ‘public anger to shake things up’ by taking to the streets in protest.
Daniel McCrossan, SDLP MLA for West Tyrone, was also present with Derry’s Mark H Durkan, MLA and Minister for the Environment.
Mr McCrossan also voiced words of support: “There’s nowhere else this would be happening and there’s nowhere else this would be accepted but we should stand firm and make it work because this is not workable and our children will lose out – that message has to go out very clearly.”
Jim McColgan, member of the Board of Governors at Holy Family Primary School for 25 years and Chairperson for 15 years, said if children were penalised by a bad education system that Northern Ireland would become an ‘economic wilderness’.
Brendan Bradley, Principal of Sacred Heart Primary School, said the situation it may take drastic measures and suggested that principals may have to consider industrial action.
“It’s about action, I’m over 30 years in education now and there has been ongoing industrial for several years and it didn’t really hit home until recently when the unions upped their action,” he said.
“I agree with writing letters and making contact bit I think as principals if we get involved and hit EA hard and as principals get involved in industrial action, withdraw our support and co-operation with what they’re doing, I think we could make a statement.”
Writing campaign
NAHT (NI) is urging all school staff, parents, governors and pupils to join their campaign by taking to Twitter and Facebook explaining why more money needs to be invested using the hashtag #fundNIschools.
They also ask that people write to MLAs and the Secretary of State about the crisis using template letters provided in schools. NAHT (NI) also encouraged people to attend their events to see what is happening and show their support.
For more information on the campaign, template letters and details of events, contact www.naht.org.uk/fund-NI-schools.
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