Chorley Labour Group of Councillors has affirmed its support for local teachers and agreed to support more funding for schools and better pay for teachers and support staff.
The Labour Group noted that;
- Since 2010, teachers and support staff in schools have faced a pay cut of at least 23%. This real terms pay cut has resulted in a crisis of recruitment and retention in education that is negatively affecting children.
- Less and less people are willing to work in schools or train to be teachers because of the lack of competitiveness of pay – the government has again failed to reach its recruitment target for 2022. At the same time, at the other end of the process, more and more teachers are leaving the profession. The result of this is children being taught by teachers working outside their specialism and area of expert knowledge – a situation that in many cases leads to a poorer educational experience.
- As well as the pressures on pay, there is significant pressure on funding with the government not funding the current teachers’ pay offer, which reduces the funding for wider school activity. This reduction means a poorer educational experience for our children with larger class sizes, courses being cut, enrichment being cancelled and school infrastructure crumbling.
Chorley Labour Group therefore at its meeting of 11/4/23 resolved to:
Welcome and pledge to support the National Education Unions campaign for more funding for schools and inflation-based fully funded pay rise for teachers and support staff.
