Today’s blog focuses on higher education, looking at funding as well as Vice Chancellor pay. We also respond to an NEU press release on school funding.
Higher Education
Today, Monday 7 January, the campaigning think-tank Onward, released a report into higher education funding. This was reported by the I News, the Times, the Mail, the Telegraph and the Sun.
Our review into post-18 education, chaired by Philip Augar, will review higher education, including the funding. Work on the review is currently ongoing, and more information will be available in due course.
A Government spokesperson said:
Students rightly expect value for money from their degree, which is why the government is conducting a major review of post-18 education and funding – to ensure we have a system that is joined up, accessible to all and provides value for money for both students and taxpayers.
Vice Chancellor Pay
On Saturday 5 January, the Telegraph ran a piece on Vice Chancellor pay.
Vice Chancellor salaries should always be justifiable, and the Office for Students has been given the powers to tackle this issue if universities do not.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
Universities are autonomous institutions. They receive significant amounts of public funding, so are rightly subject to public scrutiny.
The Committee of University Chairs has made it clear through their remuneration code that vice chancellors should not sit on their own remuneration committees.
We have set up the regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), to regulate the higher education sector and ensure it is delivering real value for money. Universities are now required to publish the justification for salaries of their vice chancellors - and the OfS has powers to take action if universities do not do this.
School Funding
Today, Monday 7 January, the National Education Union has put out a press release on school funding, based on their analysis of our data on 2019-20 Dedicated School Grant allocations and Schools Block allocations for 2018-19.
On average, schools across the country have gained 1.5% per pupil and 40% of schools received more than their National Funding Formula allocation.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
Since 2017, we have given every local authority more money for every pupil in every school to make funding fairer across the country.
Government provides this money to local authorities and they have the freedom to work with schools to allocate their budgets in a way that best suits local needs. It is also important to recognise that schools receive other sources of funding - such as the additional Teachers’ Pay Grant worth £187m this year.
While there is more money going into our schools than ever before, we do recognise the budgeting challenges schools face and that we are asking them to do more. That’s why we’re supporting schools and head teachers, and their local authorities, to make the most of every pound.
Pupil Premium Attainment
Our latest teaching blog comes from Daniel Jones, Assistant headteacher at Springfield Junior School in Ipswich, who explains why their pupil premium approach focuses on classroom teaching.
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