Union warns of looming ‘crisis’ over school places

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has claimed that capital’s school system is heading for a full scale crisis unless urgent action is taken.

It blamed the situation on the Government for reducing the role of local councils in school planning.

The campaign follows warnings from the Local Government Association (LGA) earlier this month that authorities were facing an unprecedented demand for primary places in future years.

The LGA published figures which showed that the majority of education authority areas in Yorkshire were set to see demand for places outnumber the current provision by 2016. It suggested more than 15,000 new places could be needed across the region within three years.

There are already suggestions that the demand for school places is leading to oversized classes in Yorkshire. Last week Labour produced figures which showed that the number of overcrowded infant classes has more than doubled since the coalition came to power. The party said with 373 oversized classes, up from 167 three years ago, there are now 11,740 children in their early years of primary school being taught in classes of more than 30 compared with 5,240 in Yorkshire in 2010.

The LGA has also warned that councils’ ability to plan locally for school places is being hampered by the uncertainty over future funding. And they say an increasing move towards schools being run as academies means councils do not have the power to direct these schools to expand or close in response to changes in demand. The Government’s new ‘schools presumption’ also means councils cannot create new schools that are not academies or free schools.

NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said: “As a result of the Government’s academy and free schools programme, local councils find themselves in the untenable position of having responsibility for providing quality primary and secondary places but no power to plan, commission or build schools.

“The reality on the ground is that many children could be without a school place, perhaps as many as one in four.

“We need to see an end to this totally chaotic approach to education provision and return to policies which work for all children and young people.

“Michael Gove has created this crisis and it is high time that he put school place planning back in safe hands.

“Local authorities know best where and when places are needed in their communities. They need the power to open new schools. Failure to do so by the Secretary of State will result in huge upset and confusion for many families. ”