Teachers and their education unions are speaking out on the funding of education and how to safeguard the future of education.

Commenting on the government's announcement on school funding in 2021, under which school funding for 2021 does not even reach 2010 levels, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said that "it is important to be clear that this funding does not even replace the budget cuts made since this government was elected, originally as part of the Coalition in 2010."

"Even the claim that every child will see a funding rise is not true when you take account of inflation; we estimate a third of pupils will see funding in their school fall," Mary Bousted continued. "A million children are in classes of over 30 and we have the biggest primary classes in Europe, the highest in this country for over 15 years. 4,000 schools are in need of immediate repair. Class sizes will continue to rise and school buildings will continue to crumble until the government takes decisive action instead of a series of underfunded initiatives."

Educators are taking the stand that it is they who must have the decisive say over the conditions and the values of the teaching profession, and that the initiative must lie with them.

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