It has been reported recently that schools in West Sussex are considering implementing a four-day school week as a result of underfunding. I think before they even have the audacity to think about cutting school contact time for pupils, these schools that are requesting more money from the government should have their finances scrutinised and be completely transparent about their expenditure. Why has it become the case where schools are cash-strapped and considering extreme measures just to keep afloat? Schools in West Sussex are not even the worst funded with schools in Cambridgeshire having the worst average spend per pupil, then schools in South Gloucestershire and then Leicestershire according to 2014/2015 data from the Dedicated Schools Grant publication. In fact, West Sussex schools come nowhere near the lowest ten funded authorities.

Something is not right and this idea should not have been entertained in the first place. I can guarantee that teachers considering this idea would not take a 20% pay cut, because if a five-day school week has been reduced to four days then in theory they are working 20% and thus receive 20% less of their wages. It is disgraceful that they are all too ready to let their pupils receive less class-time but still expect to be paid at the same rate as other teachers who give their pupils five days’ worth of learning. Not to mention that teacher salaries for state maintained schools are decided by the government and not by individual schools, thus I doubt that even if they were willing to accept a pay cut, they probably could not.

These teachers are thinking about themselves first, and not putting their pupils’ interest first. Not to mention the parents of these pupils who should be outraged that they are considering a possibility where they would need to consider extra childcare or re-arrange their normal working hours to ensure their children are looked after probably for that extra day. This plan is simply unfeasible and inconvenient for everyone besides the teachers, for they would have an extended weekend.

Questions need to be asked over what they are exactly overspending their finances on. The government should not readily provide emergency money without scrutinising how they are managing their existing budgets. We already have a failing comprehensive system that fails to address the individual needs and abilities of students, hence why I support the proposals for the reintroduction of grammar schools across the country. Let it not be the case where schools in this country cannot even provide the very basics of a decent education that the taxpayer should expect, such as teaching pupils for five days a week.

State comprehensives, when left unchecked, have reduced standards of education and it seems they are descending even lower. Unfortunately, it will be the pupils who will suffer for they will have no other alternative if their parents cannot afford private education. I hope that the current government will also bring back the Assisted Places Scheme, or something similar, where highly academic pupils were funded to attend private schools courtesy of the taxpayer. Why should we let state schools waste the funds they are given and expect them to receive more money, when those funds could be diverted to the private sector and students (and taxpayers) receive a better deal? It has gone too far now that state schools are considering a four-day school week, and it is travesty that teachers think that they are entitled to a full salary despite a reduced working week.

Elrica Degirmen
(Image courtesy of Jacob’s Well)