24^th August 2017 will be a memorable day for thousands of students across the UK as they receive their GCSE results. Whilst there’ll be students that are celebrating success there are also always disappointed pupils who didn’t get the grades they expected. Those who are disappointed will no doubt be turning to their teachers for support and guidance. Here are top five tips on how you can help your students should their results not be something to celebrate.    

1. Be a calming presence

Emotions will be running high along with feelings of stress and panic. The first thing you can do is offer reassurance and a calming presence on the day. Have some stories on hand of students who didn’t perform as well as they had hoped but went onto being successful. This will help them feel like it’s not the end of the world, as many will probably feeling like it is.   

2. Re-marks and resits

Grades can move up or down however most of the time they don’t therefore it’s important to set expectations when discussing the option of re-marking with students. Maths, English, and English Literature can be retaken in November, whilst everything else the following summer; therefore resits may be more realistic for some.  If there is a high chance of a student improving the second time around, and their choice of career path depends on it then resisting exams is an option worth pursuing. Guidance from a trusted and knowledgeable teacher is vital here. 

3. Talk to students away from parents

Each year more and more parents are accompanying their children and standing with them as they open that all important envelope. This can be quite daunting and nerve racking especially if both parents are looking over their shoulder. It’s a lot better for students to open results, talk to their friends, talk to their teachers and then face parents when they feel prepared. Try to steer students away from their parents and ensure the conversation you have is on point. 

4. Be prepared

As a teacher you will need to respond to an array of questions and deal with situations you may not have faced before. It’s worthwhile speaking to senior members to get their experiences and advice, especially if this was your first year of teaching as an NQT. Think back to your own personal life experiences and how you felt during GCSE results day. 

5. There are other options

A-Levels are not the only option. There are several other post-16 paths, of which some end up at the same destination. Good results in vocational qualifications can open the door to many university courses and careers. There is also the option of apprenticeships which work really well for some young people. 

One final point to remember is to tell your students that their GCSE results do not define them. It’s what they do next that will begin to shape their future.

As a new primary school teacher, you can feel overwhelmed and intimidated by the task placed in front of you. You've got to educate the 30 children in your class, all while managing behaviour and accommodating everybody's needs. It sounds impossible, but it can be done. Here's the top ten tips that all primary teachers follow when they're working in the classroom.            

1. Create a relationship with the parents

Now more than ever you're going to need to build up a good relationship with the parents of your students. They have more of an impact on them than anyone else in their lives, so you need to get to know them, and understand what their home life is like. The best way to do this is to make yourself available at the end of the school day, when children are being picked up. You can chat with them, and share what's happened in the day. This works wonders for building strong relationships. 

2. Be positive in the classroom

A popular piece of advice given to new teachers is 'don't mile before Christmas', in order to cement your role as the boss in the classroom. The fact is that positivity goes a long way towards a better behaved classroom, so encourage and help your students wherever you can. A few words of praise when they're getting right will sit so much better than a heavy handed approach when things go wrong.    

3. Know your subject

As a primary teacher this sounds like a difficult task, but you need a good understanding of your subject in order to teach it. If you don't, it can have a serious impact on your students' learning. If you're struggling, find help online on sites such as State Of Writing, or talk to a colleague with a better understanding to get help with your lesson plans.

4. Know when to use the staff room

The staff room is the hub of the school, and you'll need to access it in order to get that all important cup of tea and biscuit on your breaks. However, heading up there can get you inundated with people asking for help or ideas for their own classes. If you need a real break, avoiding the staff room may actually be your best bet. If you need some help though, get in there and tap your colleagues for their perspectives and experiences.

5. Your relationships with your students matter

The environment in your classroom will go a long way towards your success. A teacher that encourages a positive environment will be able to understand their students' needs better, and therefore help them achieve their best every day.    

6. Let children know what's expected of them

If you're having behavioural issues with your students, it could be because they don't quite understand what's expected of them. Spend time before every lesson giving them the goals for this session, and tell them what you need from them. The clearer you are, the more focused they can be.      

7. Be attentive to your students' needs

Thanks to class sizes, you can't always meet every child's needed, but you can try your best. The more you accommodate them, the better they will thrive. For example, if you tell children that they have five minutes, they can find that harder to visualise. If you run a sand timer though, they can see exactly how long they have.    

8. Model good behaviour

You can't expect your students to listen to you if you're not practicing what you preach. Make sure you're modelling the good behaviour you want them to exhibit. Listen to them when they're talking to you, try not to raise your voice, and praise children when they get something right. It's much easier to respect a teacher who holds themselves to their own high standards.    

9. Don't worry if students are finding it difficult

Writers at UK Top Writers say students often come to them when they're finding new subjects challenging. If this is happening in your classroom, don't panic. A new topic is going to be hard at first, because your students have never come across it before. Instead, give them the space and time they need to ask question and get to grips with the subject matter.    

10. Don't worry about learning styles

You'll have heard a lot about how learning styles can influence learning. You'll try your hardest to accommodate all kinds of styles, but in reality you don't have to. In fact, there's not a lot of evidence to suggest they work at all.   

Keep these tips in mind and you'll get through your first year of teaching just fine.

You can do this, no problem.

View all our Primary Education vacancies and apply today. 

Click here to read our top tips if you are a Newly Qualified Teacher 

In the last 4 years the number of unqualified teachers in state-funded schools across the UK has risen by 62 per cent. Labour revealed the data from the DfE School workforce which showed in 2016 there were 24,000 unqualified teachers up from 14,800 in 2012, when at the time Michael Gove was Education Secretary removed the requirement for teachers to be qualified in the specific subjects they cover. Assuming an average class size of 25.5 children this means 613,000 children were taught by unqualified teachers. In the same period, the number of qualified teachers rose by just 1.4 per cent, from 427,300 to 433,200. A higher proportion of unqualified staff are in academies and free schools. In local authority secondary schools, 4.9 per cent of teachers are unqualified, but in secondary sponsored academies there are 9.6 per cent, and 11.3 per cent in secondary free schools.  

Labour condemned the findings, highlighting that the Government has missed its teacher training targets for the fifth year in a row. Mike Kane, a former teacher and the shadow schools minister, said the government was relying on unqualified teachers to plug the gaps in schools brought about by chronic underfunding. “Under Labour, all permanently employed teachers had to be qualified. This government changed the rules and scrapped that requirement, allowing schools to employ unqualified teachers, permanently threatening standards. “The Tories’ failure on teacher recruitment is putting school standards at risk, and it’s our children who will pay for their mess,” he said. “The Government have completely failed in their most basic of tasks and are clearly relying on unqualified teachers to plug the gaps,” he said. “Unqualified teachers have no guaranteed training in safeguarding children, controlling a class or adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils,” Mr Kane said. “But under the Tories, they’re responsible for the education of hundreds of thousands of our children.”   

Plugging the gap
The results coincides with dramatic staff shortages felt across the sector with more teachers leaving the profession than entering for the second year in a row. was unheard of years ago, however this is now common practice in many of England’s schools. Teaching Assistants and staff from other areas were being pulled in to plug gaps for example native language speakers who do not hold a qualification in teaching are increasingly being used to teach MFL subjects. Worryingly, more than a third of Physics teachers do not have a degree in the subject, more than a fifth of Maths and English teachers hold no higher than an A-level qualification in the subject. Earlier this year the Government launched a £300,000 overseas recruitment drive in a bid to address the recruitment crisis facing the UK Education sector.  

The idea behind employing unqualified staff was to make it easier for schools to have lessons from people with particular skills, such as technology experts, sports tutors, musicians or linguists. But it was opposed by teaching unions who claimed it was a form of cost cutting and a lowering of professional standards. Local authority schools still require teachers to have qualified teacher status, but there are exemptions such as specialist instructors, teachers trained overseas and trainee teachers. Another former education secretary, Nicky Morgan, last year put forward plans that would have completely removed qualified teacher status. But these proposals were reversed by the current Education Secretary, Justine Greening, who has said she wants to strengthen QTS rather than end it. "Some people have suggested that QTS might be scrapped or replaced with some vague notion of an 'accreditation'," she said in a speech earlier this year. "Let me be absolutely clear: not on my watch." Ms Greening added: "Keeping and strengthening QTS is vital. This is not about removing school freedoms. But I believe that teachers should have the highest quality qualification and what I want to see is a QTS so well regarded, so strong that school leaders will naturally want all their teaching staff to have it. "QTS should be the foundation stone for the teaching profession to build on."    

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We trust headteachers to run their schools and make the right decisions for their pupils. The latest figures show that nine in ten secondary lessons are taught by a teacher with a relevant post A-level qualification – a clear indication of the importance headteachers place on ensuring pupils are taught by highly qualified teachers.” “The quality of new entrants to teacher training continues to be high, with 18 per cent of this year’s cohort holding a first-class degree. We are investing £1.3bn up to 2020, along with bursaries of up to £30,000 tax free in subjects including physics, to continue to attract the best and the brightest into the profession, particularly in the core academic subjects.” Unions and Labour claim that not enough trainee teachers began courses in more than three-quarters of subjects, with maths, physics, design and technology, computing and business studies all falling at least 15% short of their targets. About 6,000 trainee teachers began courses after achieving a 2:2 or lower in their degree subject, and less than half of trainees are studying for their qualifications in universities, they claimed. The only subjects to meet the required recruitment levels were PE, history, biology and geography, while English and chemistry narrowly missed them.  

Education Secretary Justine Greening told MPs she recognised there was concern over school funding and has announced schools will receive an extra £1.3bn over two years.

However this is not ‘new’ education money, instead it will be taken from elsewhere in the education budget including £280 million from the free-schools programme. In 2018-2019 the budget will increase from £41bn to £42.4bn and £43.5bn in 2019-20. The plans will protect per pupil funding in ‘real-terms.’ During the General Election school funding became a major issue, the Conservative manifesto pledged that no schools would see their budgets cut as a result of the proposed national funding formula, and to increase the schools budget by £4 billion by 2022. The Conservatives had promised an extra £1bn per year, which on top of planned increases, would have meant the core schools budget rising by about £4bn in 2021-22. Most of this extra funding was going to come from scrapping free meals for all infants, a policy which was then withdrawn. Earlier this month, Ms Greening had demanded that the government publicly commit, before the summer holiday, to give schools an extra £1.2bn. Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday Ms Greening said this "significant investment" would help to "raise standards, promote social mobility and to give every child the best possible education."

• Not new money from the Treasury, but money from savings within education budget
• £280m cut from the free schools budget and £315m from "healthy pupils" projects
• The DFE is promising £416m extra for schools from savings in 2018-19 and a further £884m in 2019-20
• A new minimum per pupil funding limit will be set in secondary schools at £4,800
• The Institute for Fiscal studies says the extra money is more generous than promised in the Conservative manifesto - and will freeze average school budgets at current levels over the next two years
• But in the years between 2015 and 2020, the IFS says school budgets will have declined in real terms by 4.6%

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner accused the Conservatives of being in “full retreat from their own manifesto.” “Astoundingly, this has all been funded without a penny of new money from the Treasury – perhaps the Chancellor didn’t want to fund schools and thought that teachers and teaching assistants were just more overpaid public servants,” she said. Leader of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) Kevin Courtney said: "We have told the Government that schools are facing big real terms cuts. The Government has had to recognise that fact. 

This extra money is welcome but it is nowhere near enough.” Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman, said that it is a “desperate attempt to pull the wool over people's eyes.” "Instead of providing the £4bn of extra funding promised in their manifesto, the Conservatives are recycling cash from the education budget,” she said. “It is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Schools are still facing cuts to their budgets once inflation and increasing class sizes are taken into account.”  

A protest over school funding cuts was held in London at the weekend[/caption] Ms Greening, who addressed the cash as the biggest increase in schools funding in a decade, is a queue of ministers that have called for more cash for her department – but she has apparently failed to convince the Chancellor to provide extra funding. For many years there have been complaints that schools in different parts of the country were receiving different levels of per pupil funding. She said the new formula would go ahead and would address unfair and inconsistent levels of funding. Under the new arrangements, from 2018-19, the minimum funding per secondary pupil would be set at £4,800 per year. Details of an updated version of the formula, with budgets for individual schools, are being promised for the Autumn.

For yet another year teachers’ pay will remain capped at 1%, the Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed. It will affect more than half a million teachers who will face yet another pay cut in real-terms as limits on public pay continues.  The cap – initially at 0% and later 1% has been in place since 2010 by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition as part of austerity measures. Theresa May refused to lift the cap despite members of her own senior team, including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt indicating they thought it was time to increase pay for public sector workers. Justine Greening Education Secretary said the Government has accepted the recommendation of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which said there should be a 1 per cent increase for all pay ranges. “The recommendations, due to be introduced in September, are consistent with the Government’s 1 per cent public sector pay policy.”  

Teachers at the bottom of the main pay scale will receive an automatic 2 per cent increase but Ms Greening said they only represented "a small proportion of teachers." Only teachers at the bottom of pay ranges will receive automatic rises. The rest will be down to the discretion of schools. The education secretary also indicated that schools would have to fund the cost of any pay increases out of their own budgets.  

A DfE spokeswoman said: “We recognise and value the hard work of teachers which is why we have accepted the pay deal proposed by the independent STRB, in line with the 1 per cent public sector pay policy. This will ensure we continue to strike the balance between being fair to public sector workers and fair to taxpayers.” Labour said the government was causing a recruitment crisis in schools by holding down pay, while the award was described as “an insult” by the Liberal Democrats. Teachers’ unions said that salaries will have fallen 15% behind inflation since 2010. The pressure is now on Chancellor Philip Hammond to announce a review of public spending in the Autumn budget.  

Recruitment crisis

Head teachers' leader Geoff Barton accused ministers of "playing fast and loose with children's education." "Teachers are facing a seventh year of real-terms pay cuts at a time when we are in a full-blown recruitment crisis," said Mr Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers' union. Run down, Nearly a quarter of the teachers who have qualified since 2011 have already left the profession. A recent survey shows that more than 27,500 teachers who trained between 2011 and 2015 had already left the job by last year. It means that just over 23% of about 117,000 teachers who qualified over the period have left.   The pay review body said there was a "real risk that schools will not be able to recruit and retain a workforce of high quality teachers to support pupil achievement." There is also a warning that schools are "working under increasing financial constraints." "Between now and 2020, many schools will face both real-terms reductions in the level of per-pupil funding and growing cost pressures. Difficult choices may be inescapable," says the pay body. The pay limit was part of the government's efforts to reduce the budget deficit following the financial crash.  

Russell Hobby, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said the outcome was "deeply disappointing." He criticised that the pay review body "had its hands tied" and could not recommend a pay award "based on the evidence." Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the largest teachers’ union, said “This is a missed opportunity which the Government will come to regret as the teacher recruitment and retention crisis gets worse.” “Teachers’ pay increases have fallen behind inflation by 13% since 2010 while this public sector pay policy has been applied. 

This latest pay announcement will mean that figure increases to over 15%.  The pay being offered to newly qualified teachers would be over £3500 higher if the pay cap had never been applied and schools would have far fewer difficulties in recruiting new graduates." “The Government’s attack on national pay scales and its pursuit of performance related pay at a time of funding cuts in schools has meant that teachers are increasingly unlikely to get pay progression either. 

The result is that the Government’s own figures show that average pay for classroom teachers has only gone up by £300 - less than 1% - since 2010." "The Government announcement does however allow a 2% increase for all teachers on the main pay scale, not just newly qualified teachers, and the NUT will be pressing the Government to ensure that this happens." “The School Teachers’ Review Body has told the Government that teachers continue to be paid less than other graduate professionals throughout their careers and that the pressures faced by schools in attracting high quality teachers have not reduced.  It has also said that there needs to be a longer-term investment in an effective teaching workforce.  This clearly supports the NUT’s argument that the Government needs to invest in more and better paid school staff.”  

James Westhead, executive director of Teach First, said that "recruiting teachers is becoming more and more challenging. We need to ensure teaching is fairly rewarded."

• The 1% increase will see the overall annual teachers' pay bill for England rise by about £505m to £25.3bn, with the extra cost to come out of the government's existing allocation of funding for schools.
• Newly-qualified teachers from the autumn will have a starting salary of almost £23,000, with the upper pay scale for classroom teachers going up to about £38,700. Head teachers' pay will range from £44,500 to over £100,000.

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said the government needed to clarify how schools would pay for the increase - or whether it would be "squeezed" from budgets that were already under pressure. "There are now more questions than answers about their education policy, and schools urgently need some certainty," said Ms Rayner. Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman, said: "Giving teachers another below inflation pay-rise is frankly an insult to these incredibly hard working and dedicated professionals."  

A Department of Education spokeswoman said: "We recognise and value the hard work of teachers which is why we have accepted the pay deal proposed by the independent School Teachers' Review Body, in line with the 1% public sector pay policy. "This will ensure we continue to strike the balance between being fair to public sector workers and fair to taxpayers."   The decision over teachers' pay will be seen as sending a signal over pay for more than five million public sector workers.  

27,500 teachers who trained between 2011 and 2015 had already left the teaching profession by 2016. That means that just over 23% of about 117,000 teachers who qualified over the period have left. New research by the Education Policy Institute found that half of full-time teachers work between 40 and 58 hours a week, whilst a fifth of full-time teachers are working up to 60 hours a week, 19% longer than the average elsewhere of 40.6 hours.

These extortionate hours leave teachers no time for quality of life forcing many skilled teachers choosing to take huge pay cuts and work as teaching assistants rather than contend with the vast workload expected of them.These alarming figures add further concerns and pressures to a profession that’s already in crisis and when demands for the government to remove the 1% pay cap that has been placed on teacher salaries until 2020.  

Tory MPs have complained the overall schools budget is too small and needs to be increased. Teaching unions have been urging ministers to lift the pay cap. They also want to make it cheaper for teachers to train and to introduce measures to encourage teachers to stay in post in areas with significant recruitment problems. Over worked and stressed, many teachers are taking lower skilled roles or leaving the profession altogether.   

Following the election chaos Education Secretary Justine Greening, has demanded an extra £1.2bn from the government and is in support of both relaxing the pay cap and increasing public spending on schools. However she is one of a series of cabinet ministers making spending demands on Philip Hammond, the Chancellor.  

Angela Rayner, the Shadow Education Secretary, who uncovered the figures showing the number of teachers leaving the profession, said they highlighted the “sheer scale of the crisis that the Tories have created in teacher recruitment and retention”. “Teachers are leaving our classrooms in record numbers, and the crisis is getting worse year after year. We are now at the point that more teachers are leaving than staying,” she said. “The government has serious questions to answer on the impact of their policies such as the continued cap on public sector pay, and their failure to tackle the issues like excessive workload that affect teachers in the classroom. The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said that the statistics were proof of the strain teachers are under, adding that the profession is at “crisis point”. “It is time that ministers finally admitted that we are at a crisis point, and came up with a proper plan of action to deal with it.”

The Department for Education said the rate of teachers leaving after just a year had remained stable for decades, adding that some teachers were returning to the classroom after quitting. A spokesman said: “Teaching remains an attractive career and the latest statistics show that around 90% of teachers continue in the profession following their first year of teaching – this has been the case since 1996. The number of former teachers coming back to the classroom has also risen significantly – from 13,090 in 2011 to 14,200 in 2016.” “We are actively addressing the issues that teachers cite as reasons for leaving the profession, for example by supporting schools to reduce unnecessary workload and improving behaviour management training for new teachers. Teachers play a hugely important role in our society, providing education and guidance for future generations.”  

Pressure is growing on the Prime Minister to abandon plans to cut per pupil funding in years to come by protecting school funding by an additional £1.2 billion. There was no mention of whether schools would receive extra funding in the has requested a public statement over the coming weeks so schools know where they stand before they break up for the summer holidays.

The Telegraph reports Ms Greening has been alarmed at the way Labour was able to exploit the Conservative manifesto on education during the election campaign. "There was no getting away from the fact we were cutting funding per pupil,” said a senior government source. “We need to recognise that in the wake of the election, and we must address the concern."  

The Conservatives promised to increase the schools budget by £4 billion by 2022 in their election manifesto, published in May. However when inflation and rising student numbers were taken into account, the promise amounted to a cut in per pupil funding, a fact attacked repeatedly by political opponents. Ms Greening has told the Prime Minister and the Treasury that she wants to change tack after the election and make sure that per pupil funding does not fall. That means an extra £1.2 billion spending by 2022, according to the Institute For Fiscal Studies [IFS], with similar amounts in the years between now and then.  

Public Services Pay
This demand has led several of Theresa May’s own ministers to speak out in adding more funding into the public sector. Pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to relax austerity and put an end to the pay cap after the party disastrously lost its majority in the General Election to anti-austerity Labour, which has pledged to scrap the 1% cap. Theresa May faces a chorus of demands from her own MPs over public spending.  After a decade of public pay freezes, the average pay of teaching professionals has dropped by £3 an hour in real terms, £2 an hour for police officers, £8 per hour for doctors, £1 per hour for prison officers whilst nurses’ wages have stagnated. In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry on Monday night, Chancellor Philip Hammond said the government’s approach to balance the needs of public workers with those who had to pay the bill hadn’t changed. Hammond said he recognised that “the British people are weary after seven years’ hard slog repairing the damage of the great recession.” He also said the time had come for a conversation on the level of funding of public services but it had to be a “grown-up debate” – arguing that borrowing was simply passing the bill to the next generation and that taxes couldn’t always fall on someone else. The governments approach has always been to balance the needs of the public workers with those who had to pay the bill.  

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is set to demand a salary boost for NHS workers who have suffered for years under the Tories’ one per cent pay cap. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is the latest senior cabinet minister to put pressure on the chancellor Phillip Hammond and the PM to change the policy.  

Boris Johnson believes the 1% public sector pay cap can be lifted in a responsible way.  Michael Gove, who has re-joined the Cabinet as Environment Secretary, urged the prime minister and the chancellor to listen to independent bodies that review public sector. He told the Sunday Times: "You've got to listen to the public sector pay review bodies. When they made recommendations on school teachers' pay I think I always accepted them. My colleagues who deal with these pay review bodies would want to respect the integrity of that process." A Number 10 source said the government was responding to the recommendations of public sector pay review bodies which are currently reporting to ministers "on a case-by-case basis.". But 1% rises for dentists, nurses, doctors and the military have already been agreed for this year, it added.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Nigel Lawson, a former chancellor to Margaret Thatcher, said it was Mr Hammond's job to keep control of public spending to avoid "economic disaster.” “It's not easy but it is necessary. People understand we need to pay our way on the road to economic success." Lord Lawson called on ministers to formulate the policy behind closed doors, adding: "Stop having this debate in public, it's ludicrous." 

When the matter was raised in the Commons, a minister said the government wanted to ensure "frontline public service workers" were "paid fairly for their work." Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said reports on the divisions within government over public sector pay revealed there was "turmoil" in the Conservative Party. "They're saying 'Wait for the pay review bodies', even though they're the ones insisting on a 1% cap," the Labour frontbencher told the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. "We're saying to the pay review bodies: 'Get rid of the 1% cap and give a fair pay rise.'" Asked what level of pay rise Labour thought was fair, Mr Ashworth said the pay review bodies should consider one in line with the rise in average earnings across the economy.  

Since Theresa May backlash and criticism from Conservative MPs and most of the opposition parties. And, now Education Secretary Justin Greening has confirmed the plans have been scrapped after it was excluded from the Queen’s speech last week. “There was no education bill in the Queen’s Speech, and therefore the ban on opening new grammar schools will remain in place” concluded Ms Greening.          

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner condemned the £500 million plan as a “vanity project” and said there was “no evidence it will help children move on from socially deprived background.” With such high opposition it would have been difficult to pass legislation to introduce them. The original plan was put in by the Labour government in 1997 when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. 

Justine Greening confirms the ban on grammar schools will remain. The Queen’s speech stated the government will “look at all options for opening new schools and would continue to work to ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly funded." She concluded the government would publish a Green Paper on Children and Young People’s Mental Health "focused on helping our youngest and most vulnerable members of society receive the best start in life." The notes said: "This will make sure best practice is being used consistently and will help to accelerate improvements across all services so that children and young people get the right mix of prevention and specialist support." The bill also omitted the plans to scrap universal free school lunches for primary school children, meaning no new major changes will be put forward for education within the next two years. This takes away the biggest source of extra funding promised for schools in the Conservative manifesto.  

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said that the Queen's Speech was an unambiguous decision not to go ahead with creating more grammar schools.

• No new grammar schools
• Plans dropped to stop free lunches for all infants
• No legislation announced for education
• School funding plans to be put forward at a later date
• Changes to how individual school budgets are allocated will go ahead
• Technical education to be upgraded

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said the Queen’s Speech was a “missed opportunity” for the Government. “An investment in education now is an investment in our future, post-Brexit. There is no suggestion that the Government will properly fund the major overhaul to technical education promised in today’s Queen’s Speech.” “After seven years of brutal cuts, further education colleges have been forced to make wave after wave of redundancies, and a serious recruitment and retention crisis has been exacerbated by excessive workloads and real term pay cuts.” “These issues need to be addressed if the Government’s reforms are to have any chance of delivering the skilled workforce needed for a post-Brexit economy.”  

Responding to the Queen’s speech, Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said the Government had made a “grave mistake” in not addressing the school funding crisis. “[Grammar schools] are an unnecessary and unwanted distraction,” he said. “It is now time that Theresa May turns her attention to the real and pressing issue of school funding.” “This was a major issue in the General Election. Schools are not crying wolf, there literally is not enough money for head teachers to run their schools properly.” School spending plans outlined in the Conservative manifesto last month indicated a cut of 7 per cent per pupil, the IFS calculated. Teaching union heads have called for an immediate five per cent increase in funding for “cash starved” schools, college and early years providers, as many providers face having to cut staff due to shortages.  

The government says it will bring forward its proposals on school funding at a later date.    

A recent teaching survey of 2,300 National Union of Teachers (NUT) primary members has revealed SATs are having damaging ramifications for both children and schools. Each year thousands of primary school children across the UK who undertake the National Curriculum tests are producing ‘unreliable data,’ causing some pupils to be incorrectly labelled as low ability, and others to go on to secondary school with “unrealistically” high grades.    

In April the House of Commons Education Committee raised concerns over the mental health of young children as an impact of the pressure placed on them to pass the tests. The survey revealed 94 per cent of those who teachers who took part in the survey agreed with the Committee board. Based on personal experience, teachers have noted that summer born children tend to have an unfair disadvantage and 33 per cent said that children eligible for school meals were also negatively affected (a common indicator of disadvantage).

• 96 per cent said that preparation of SATs does not support children’s access to a broad and balanced curriculum
• 93 per cent said that workload has increased as a consequence of the recent changes to the SATs exams

In response to the survey, members explained the effects of the primary assessment system:

• “It creates immense pressure on the schools to attain results and this means too much time and effort on preparing for tests. As a consequence the children give too much import to the tests themselves and are under pressure.”
• “The children who have a very low chance of passing the tests are withdrawn from interventions as the year goes on so that the focus is on borderline children. Absolutely disgraceful but senior management are under immense pressure to get the highest percentage of pass rate.”
• “Children are viewed as data. Children not capable of 'making it' are discounted so that resources can be focused on cusp children. Children assessed as 'safe' aren't always given the support to make progress they deserve.”
• “The current system does not enable schools, teachers, children and their families to celebrate the success of children who do not reach the expected standard.”
• “Children who know they are not on track to achieve the national standard feel anxious. They should be able to feel proud of how much they have progressed rather than being given a result that shows they have failed.

The lack of recognition could be seen to have a “damaging impact” on many children’s self-esteem, negatively impacting on their willingness to learn in later years. Primary school SATs are having damaging consequences on young children. Over the last few years both Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs exams have been under the spotlight with many parents and school leaders of the opinion that they put children under too much pressure at too young an age. In 2016, parents across the UK took their children out of school for a day’s protest over the exams to demonstrate the benefits of creative learning away from rigorous testing. Pressure on schools to compete in national league tables has led to pupils being taught a narrower curriculum, the Education Committee heard earlier this year. Teachers have focused their attention on Maths, English and Science subjects covered in SATs, resulting in neglecting creative subjects such as Art, Music and Humanities. The Government has since agreed to scrap SATs for six and seven-year olds starting next year, but concerns have been raised this may only increase the burden for children facing the Year 6 assessments. A new Key Stage 2 curriculum brought in last year was said to have made the end of year tests especially tough, resulting in several teachers and parents complaining of children left in tears and having panic attacks. Many schools have faced a continued recruitment crisis.

As result of the pressure around the Key Stage tests. Teachers do not want the additional pressure, the work overload and unrealistic expectations the SATs bring.  

Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said: “The Government will be left in no doubt from this survey that teachers believe the current assessment and accountability of England’s primary school children is not fit for purpose. There is widespread interest among parents, teachers and educationalists about creating a new assessment system which supports pupils’ learning rather than serving as a blunt instrument of school accountability. It is regrettable that this interest is only palely reflected in the DfE consultation. The Union will continue to work with its coalition partners in More than a Score to set out a positive alternative.”

Three teaching unions ATL, NAHT and the NUT have written to the Prime Minister Theresa May requesting for a meeting to discuss the school funding crisis. As a result of on-going campaigning supported by parents, teachers and schools, Education became a key topic in last week’s General Election and is still a key subject. £2.8 billion has already been cut from schools by the Conservatives and a further cut of £8.9 billion (when taking into account inflation and growing pupil numbers between now and 2021/22) has been pledged in their manifesto.  

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that there will be a reduction of 7 per cent in per-pupil funding by 2022. In reality 93 per cent of schools will, by 2022, experience a real-terms per-pupil spending cut. 8,912 schools (45 per cent) will receive no additional funding between now and 2021/22. One of the first acts of the new Government should be to publish its response to the fair funding consultation. But on current plans, unless the Government puts in new resources, this will lead to cuts in almost all schools. This simply cannot happen.        

Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Education was at the forefront of this election and many voters will have made their vote a vote for education. The Labour Party’s commitment to invest £4.8bn in schools, protecting school funding in real terms per pupil and protecting schools against inflation will not have been lost on the electorate. Theresa May has no option but to address this issue with urgency and ensure our head teachers have the money to run their schools properly without having to resort to begging letters to parents or cutting education provision. It is entirely feasible and entirely right that state education should be properly funded and resourced. The National Education Union will not let this Government destroy the education of a generation – education cuts never heal.”

Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “School funding was at the top of the election debate and the National Education Union will ensure that it stays in pole position in the months ahead.  If Theresa May thinks that education is expensive she should try the alternative. As the Brexit negotiations start, the need for the next generation to be well-educated becomes even more necessary, particularly if we are to compete in a global market and for the next generation to lead fulfilled lives. Education cannot be delivered ‘on the cheap’. The Government must commit to funding schools properly to give children and young people their birth right as citizens – the knowledge and skills to make the most of their talents and abilities.”

Should these cuts go ahead the ATL and NUT will continue their campaigning and along with the support of education professionals, parents, governors, MPs and local communities across the country this will intensify over the coming weeks and months. Once the formation of the new super union National Education Union (NEU) - the merger of the NUT and ATL takes place in September it will strengthen the union's position and the support for this campaign.