EAST BELFAST PRIMARY AND NURSERY PRINCIPALS’ GROUP (EBPG)
SUBMISSION TO NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE FOR EDUCATION 26.10.07
1. CORE FUNDING IS GROSSLY INADEQUATE IN THE PRIMARY SECTOR
1.1 Practically no release time for class teachers
INTENSITY OF CLASS TEACHING IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CANNOT BE OVER-EMPHASISED
1.1.1 Differentiation. SEN. All subjects (separately and integrated).
1.1.2 Curriculum development: individually; year group; whole school
1.1.3 Pastoral care: discipline issues, liaison with parents, EWO, social workers, other external agencies
1.1.4 Teachers in England have a minimum entitlement of 10% for planning, preparation and assessment
1.2 Lack of administrative support
Most primary schools have only one part-time secretary.
1.2.1 Secretaries are under increasing pressure and are at breaking point
1.2.2 Principals are carrying out increasing amount of routine administration
1.2.3 Lack of admin support for teachers; typing, photocopying etc
1.3 No ICT support employed by primary schools
1.3.1 Primary schools cannot afford ICT support
1.3.2 ICT co-ordinators are class teachers
- with no release time/ little expertise to carry out basic repairs
- with no release time to provide advice/training for teachers
1.3.3 Problems are reported to C2K: time consuming, delays cause frustration for co-ordinators, admin staff, class teachers, pupils
1.3.4
Teachers have been promised laptops for years. Most primary schools have had a group of outdated laptops for a long period of time which are beyond repair. This is a reflection of how teachers have been treated generally.
1.4 Primary schools cannot afford other technical/ classroom assistant support
1.4.1 Class teachers cannot provide the support needed for 30+ pupils in a class of pupils with a wide ability range carrying out different tasks (many practical tasks) at different levels. This has a negative effect on the quality of teaching and learning.
1.4.2 Apart from occasional individual SEN child support, the only provision of support in primary schools is 3 hours per day P1 classroom assistant support. What about the other 2 hours per day with classes of up to 30 4 year olds following the revised curriculum?
1.4.3 The successful pilot for the enriched curriculum included classroom assistants in P2 but primary schools are unlikely to receive funding to employ P2 classroom assistants when the revised curriculum is extended to P2 next year.
1.4.4 The need for additional classroom support is widely acknowledged by teachers, inspectorate etc. Younger children need concrete experiences - class teachers are having to spend an unacceptable amount of time setting up/making equipment for science, PE etc .
1.5 No pastoral care support
Increasing amount of time spent on pastoral care issues: pupil welfare issues, discipline problems, liaison with parents, social workers, therapists, community groups, attending case conferences etc.
1.5.1 Class teachers have no release time to carry out these tasks.
1.5.2
Pastoral care co-ordinators/ designated teachers have full-time teaching roles. Principals and teachers have to fit these tasks into an already over-stretched schedule.
1.6 Lack of special needs provision
1.6.1 The number of children with special needs in Belfast is increasing.
1.6.2
The number of special needs teachers is decreasing:
- during the past 5 years, in the 16 primary schools in East Belfast, 10 have had reductions, 4 have maintained their SEN provision (2 of them due to protection afforded by an amalgamation otherwise they would also have had to reduce their SEN provision), 2 have had none at all during this period.
- the 968 pupils in our special needs registers are not receiving the support they require - this leads to frustration for pupils, teachers, parents
- there is a growing influx of children for whom English is an additional language.
1.6.3 The amount of support from the BELB is decreasing: insufficient number of educational psychologists and other areas of support employed.
1.7 Poor level of resourcing
1.7.1 The necessity to try to acquire additional finance imposes additional administrative pressures on schools, especially principals, which further deflects them from their core role. Successful applications tend to be for short-term projects which makes long term planning difficult – often improvements cannot be sustained when funding ceases. Often restricted to specific geographical areas to the neglect of schools with similar problems in similar areas.
1.7.2 Extra resources are required to make the Revised Curriculum work eg. Large and small outdoor and indoor play equipment, additional P.E. equipment all of which have a short lifespan.
Extra human resources like additional classroom assistants for P2 and P5 and planning time for teachers would enable schools to implement the Revised Curriculum.
2. SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES EXIST WITH OTHER PARTS OF UK & SECONDARY SECTOR
2.1 The disparity which exists in primary-secondary funding highlights the need for additional funding in the primary sector to bring it up to the more acceptable level of the secondary sector not to reduce funding in the secondary sector to the unacceptable level of the primary sector.
2.2 At present primary school budgets are grossly inadequate and do not provide principals and governors with the flexibility needed to employ additional teaching and non-teaching staff and physical resources.
2.3
The Bain Report draws parallels between funding in Wales and funding in N.Ireland. In Wales, primary schools receive 21% more per pupil than in N.Ireland – funding is same in both countries for post-primary schools.
2.4
Hansard (21.11.02) reported a primary:secondary differential in England of 1:1.38 in 1993/94 which decreased to 1:1.24 in 2000/01. A colleague’s school in N.Belfast receives a budget of £369,984 but would receive £617,863 if the school was in Banners Gate in England.
2.5
In N. Ireland:
2.5.1 primary school budgets are based mainly on an allocation of £1923 per pupil compared to the secondary school allocation of between £3167 and £4110 per pupil depending on age.
2.5.2
secondary schools receive 79% more AWPU funding per pupil than primary schools.
2.5..3
the differential in AWPU funding for a Y7 child and a Y8 child is currently 1:1.64. Last year the differential was 1:1.66 which amounts to an increase in £19 per pupil
- a recognition that primary schools are underfunded
- the difference was not significant enough to make a major impact
- the small increase was at the expense of the post-primary sector.
2.6 Post primary schools are able to
- employ more admin support
- employ more technical support
- provide more non-teaching time for VPs, pastoral care co-ordinators and class teachers
- Provide more and better resources
2.7 In most primary schools the principal is the only non-teaching teacher - the only one available to liaise with parents/external agencies etc & carry out admin tasks to the neglect of their leading professional roles. Primary school principals, VPs, curriculum co-ordinators do not have sufficient time to carry out their important leadership roles especially with regard to curriculum and staff development - they do have the commitment and expertise!
3. FUNDING MUST BE NEEDS DRIVEN
3.1 Inner cities face particular need no matter what indicators are used.
3.1.1
Belfast contains 14 of the 20 most deprived areas in N.Ireland (Noble indicators).
3.1.2
Four of the Inner East wards are placed within the 10% most deprived areas in N.Ireland. East Belfast contains one of largest Neighbourhood Renewal Areas in N. Ireland: Woodstock, Ballymacarret, Island & The Mount have a total population of just under 18000. The absence of an integrated approach and strategy in East Belfast to guide physical and social regeneration is widely recognised.
3.2 Under common formula funding (CFF), Belfast has lost £3million per year for each of the last 3 years
3.2.1 There have been 389 redundancies in the last 3 years (less than half of these have been due to falling roles) due to change in formula.
3.2.2 There has been a significant reduction in special needs in east Belfast primary schools at a time when the number of children with special needs is increasing (ref. para 1.6.2)
3.2.3 The number of educational psychologists and Educational Welfare officers employed by the BELB is totally inadequate.
FUNDING DOES NOT CURRENTLY MEET NEED.
3.4 In East Belfast we accept that certain schools do not contain pupils from areas recognized as being deprived and generally pastoral care problems and special needs issues are not as prevalent. We accept that the need is not as great in these schools. However, they must also receive sufficient core funding to facilitate release time for teachers, admin/technical/ welfare support etc. The many other schools in areas of deprivation need additional funding.
The same argument must apply on a national level – schools in areas of deprivation face additional pressures and should receive additional support. However all primary schools need sufficient core funding to enable them to provide an acceptable service for pupils, staff, parents, governors.
CFF does not appear to address this issues.
4. NEED FOR MORE STRATEGIC PLANNING
4.1 Funding should not be as short-term
4.1.1 The Neighbourhood Partnership has acknowledged that Government policy has tended in the past to focus on short term initiatives and programmes that reflect a lack of continuity of resources targeted at their specific needs. There has been insufficient linkage between these programmes and a need to raise achievement, insufficient monitoring of the effects of the programmes and poor targeting to ensure that those most in need of the provision actually were in receipt of its benefits.
4.1.2
The recent Extended Schools initiative is an example of a programme that could be more effectively developed as part of a broader neighbourhood renewal programme to avoid duplication and secure more effective relationships between schools and community providers.
4.2
Need for clearer communication with schools. There must be consultation with schools to ensure strategies meet the needs at the chalkface in a realistic timescale.
4.3
The issue of rationalization of schools needs to be addressed on a whole area basis. Plans for an area must take account of long term issues including housing before decisions are taken regarding the positioning of new builds/ amalgamations. Plans for the whole area must be published before announcing decisions about individual schools – parents must be able to make informed choices.
4.4
Wider issues of uncertainty need to be addressed: Bain report, Costello Report, 11+, formation of the ESA. These are sources of additional stress for principals, teachers, governors, parents, local communities etc.
4.5
Revised curriculum: too many issues to list which reflect lack of strategic planning, poor communication with schools, inadequate physical and human resources, insufficient time for planning and training of an acceptable standard.
4.6
The ESA has the potential to provide a less fragmented approach to provision of support including the continued professional development of teachers.