State of Education Report 2017 state-of-education-booklet-Final-WEB | Page 4

Budget crunch unites schools across the country What other significant challenges lie ahead?
Budget pressure tops the chart of demands on school leaders Budget pressure unites primary and secondary leaders: it is the
nationally for the coming academic year, with more than five in 10 top challenge ahead for each phase (50% and 53% respectively).
(51%) expecting this to be their greatest challenge from a list of 16 However, teacher and school leader workload is second on the list of
options. This represents a significant increase on last year, when challenges among primary schools (12%), while in secondary settings
budget pressures/lack of funding was the top concern overall, but for it’s teacher recruitment and retention (15%).
three in 10 (31%) school leaders.
We see a similar picture when looking at the results by location:
With mainstream schools set to experience an 8% real-term reduction budget pressure is the biggest challenge ahead for school leaders
in funding between 2014-15 and 2019-20, according to the National in both rural (55%) and urban (49%) settings, but views diverge
Audit Office (NAO), it is not surprising that making ends meet looms geographically after this. Teacher and school leader workload
large for so many school leaders. is expected to be the biggest challenge for one in 10 (12%) rural
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settings, followed by teacher recruitment and retention (7%), whereas
Predictably, school business managers are feeling the strain most, with
the order is reversed in urban schools (11% and 10% respectively).
almost three-quarters (74%) citing budget pressure as their biggest
challenge ahead. Nearly six in 10 (58%) headteachers agree – with the
difference most likely down to the broader scope of their role.
While funding is the biggest challenge on the horizon across all school
types, there are variances between those in multi-academy trusts
Among school leaders in MATs, the
challenge of teacher recruitment and
retention appears to be more widespread,
with 17% putting this top of their list.
(MATs) and standalone schools. More than four in 10 school leaders
(43%) in MATs put budget pressure first, compared to just over half of
their counterparts in single academies (53%) and maintained schools Providing for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities
(52%) – perhaps a reflection of the flexibility within some MATs to is expected to be the biggest challenge for 5% of primary school
redistribute funding between academies as needed. leaders, compared to 2% of their secondary school counterparts.
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