After the government in England announced large budget cuts for this coming year, teaching unions and associations have suggested strikes are possible. Many are outraged at the move by the government and have threatened to strike for indefinite durations.

The drop in funding came after a record number of students decided to apply for higher education programs, far more than the goverment predicted. Rather than celebrate the increasing desire of students to stay on a school or college, Labour have announced that there will be a £200m shortfall in funding this year. This will likely put the future of as many as 50,000 young adults in jeopardy, lead to a decrease for school bursaries, and will mean that many will have to look for paid work instead. Given that we are in a time of very low employment levels, this point is something many in the sector are deeply concerned about.

The National Union of Teachers have spoken out and called the cuts “an absolute disgrace”. A ‘lost generation’ is what they think will be the result of this, simular to the situation with school leavers in the 1980’s. “This would not happen in independent or boarding schools and should not happen in the state system” they said. The cut came about as a miscalculated estimate on the percentage of young people who would choice to continue on to colleges, sixth forms or paid training schemes. Institutions have thus been given less money than they had expected to receive (estimated around 4%) and so will probably have to make up the deficit by cutting courses and even teaching jobs.The annual NUT conference in Cardiff saw the first suggestions of strike action when speakers voted to take a stand at the schools and colleges in question

The Schools Secretary, Ed Balls has admitted that schools do face a very real problem currently in terms of providing funding for those who wish to continue education. He claims that the cause for the rise in higher education program applications is down to the poor job market putting people off entering work. He suggests that teenagers are not wanting to enter work at the moment as there are few good job prospects on account of the recession

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