What Factors are Behind the School Shortages in the UK?

Many parents have received letters telling them their children cannot get places in their first choice primary school. This is happening as official figures show that there are not less than 10,000 school shortages across the country.

Authorities are working to avert the crisis by channeling funds meant for repair to create more places for school going children. Still, statistics indicate one in five children will miss their parent’s first choice of schools in the next few years. There are a number of factors that have led to this shortage.

Number of Births in the UK

There has been a significant increase in births in the UK in the last decade. The number of births in 2002 was 669,000 compared to 779,000 in 2013. This is 110,000 or 14 percent more children competing for primary school places. The number is expected to rise to a possible 900,000 by the year 2020.

The increase in the number of children joining primary schools has not only created shortages for new students but has also left a staffing crisis. Even though the number of tutors is said to have increased, this has only been marginal with only 1.3 percent in recent years.

Fewer Classes

Classes are still capped at 30 per student. Despite the fact that councils are working to channel more funds to building classes, they still have a lot of work to do to keep up with the growing population. Even if they can build schools for the current school going children, there will still be a shortage granted the fast increase in births expected in the next few years.

Immigration

Immigration has also contributed to the increase in births. Out of the 779,000 births recorded in 2013, 197,000 or 25% were born to non-UK mothers. This is an increase from 2002 when 110,000 or 14% out of the 669,000 births were born to non-UK mothers. The number of births from immigrants has increased from 25% to 17%.

Education Budget

It appears that many head teachers are unhappy with the budget they receive for their schools every year. A survey conducted by BESA showed that 72% of school heads “were pessimistic” about the budget they expect to receive in the coming year. This level of pessimism will inform how schools will choose to utilize funds. Many schools feel that they risk bankruptcy, if they do not implement far-reaching savings, which could mean very little will be channeled to classes and in recruiting new tutors.