Education Secretary Damian Hinds calls for billions more investment in schools

The Education Secretary is demanding billions more for schools following a Budget in which the Chancellor lavished more money on potholes than classrooms.

Damian Hinds said education spending was a ‘special case’ that deserved more than the real-terms freeze currently on offer to all departments outside the NHS in next year’s spending review.

Philip Hammond warned last week that a huge increase in health spending meant other departments would be left with an average zero per cent real-terms settlement in the three-year review.

Damian Hinds said education spending was a ‘special case’ that deserved more than the real-terms freeze currently on offer to all departments outside the NHS in next year’s spending review

But, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Hinds made it clear this will not be enough for education, which is facing a rising school population and teacher shortages.

‘Schools and colleges, education, is a different category of spend from others,’ he said. 

‘This is about investment in our skills base, it’s about bringing on the next generation, it’s about social mobility, it’s about fulfilling the potential of children.

Teachers ‘drowning in paperwork’ 

Schools will today be warned to cut classroom red tape, amid fears excessive hours spent on paperwork are causing teachers to ‘burn out’.

In a joint letter to head teachers today, Education Secretary Damian Hinds and Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman warn that teachers are ‘drowning in unnecessary and meaningless data’.

They say teachers now spend more than half their time on ‘non-teaching tasks’, such as data collection, marking and lesson planning. 

Mr Hinds told the Daily Mail that the culture of ‘excessive’ data collection by schools had developed over years, with many now collecting information that was not required by Ofsted or his department.

He said: ‘As a teacher you want to inspire children, you want to develop them, you want to bring the absolute best out of every child.

‘You’re much more likely to be able to do that to best effect if you’re sharp and wide awake and not frustrated by filling in a load of Excel spreadsheets.’

‘We know on a simple economic level our productivity levels are not nearly where they should be – there’s a big gap compared to Germany and America. And we need to improve our skills base.

‘We’ve seen great improvements in education – primary reading is a fundamental building block but also later on in school. Crucially from a social mobility perspective, the gap between the rich and poor has narrowed.

‘Education is delivering. It has demonstrated its ability to deliver and for the spending review, and for all Government planning, there is a very strong case for education.’

Last week’s Budget provided an extra £400million for schools this year. But Mr Hammond angered teachers by suggesting that this cash, for what he called the ‘little extras’, would solve their funding problems.

The phrase led to a tidal wave of mockery from teachers and parents, with schools pointing out there was no point buying ‘new whiteboards’, as Mr Hammond suggested, if there were not enough staff to use them.

One parent joked that they would be dressing their children as potholes ‘to see if we can get more funding for their school’ after the Chancellor announced £420million for road repairs.

Mr Hinds winced when asked about the Chancellor’s phrase. And while he defended the new money, he made little effort to disguise his frustration about the way the announcement was handled.

Last week’s Budget provided an extra £400million for schools this year. But Philip Hammond angered teachers by suggesting that this cash, for what he called the ‘little extras’, would solve their funding problems

Last week’s Budget provided an extra £400million for schools this year. But Philip Hammond angered teachers by suggesting that this cash, for what he called the ‘little extras’, would solve their funding problems

Asked if he would use the phrase himself he laughed nervously and replied: ‘No, the phrase I use is for additional small capital projects. 

‘Look, £400million is a substantial sum of money and it’s good that because of the strength of the economy and great record on employment that it’s been possible to find some extra capital money for in-year spend, including crucially in schools.

‘When you take that £400million and divide it down to individual schools, this will be for relatively small capital projects. Nevertheless I hope it will be of use to schools.’

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