Survey findings from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) reveal that 68% of school leaders have increased class sizes already in the past 12 months – and 74% say they will rise over the next 12 months.
Schools in the survey say they are also preparing to reduce their curriculum offer, reduce subsidies for school trips, cut classroom resources, and cut pastoral support, among other cost-saving measures in the coming months.
The poll involved 749 school leaders, most of whom come from secondary schools across England.
It finds that 57% have cut the number of teachers and teaching assistants in the past year, with 61% planning further cuts to teachers this coming year (53% say they will be cutting teaching assistants further next year).
This is having a direct impact on class sizes. The latest Department for Education data (DfE, 2024) shows increasing numbers of students being taught in classes of 31 or more.
In 2023/24, more than one million pupils were being taught in such classrooms, including 507,915 at secondary level. This compares to 491,352 in 2022/23 and 402,469 in 2018/19. Indeed, the number in large classes in secondary schools has increased by more than 200,000 between 2015/16 and 2023/24.
Among the cost-saving measures reported in the ASCL survey findings, headteachers say they will be forced in the coming year to:
- Reduce their curriculum offer (58%).
- Reduce subsidised school trips (53%).
- Cut classroom resources (75%).
- Cut pastoral support (64%).
- Reduce any additional academic support (73%).
When it comes to curriculum provision, respondents in the survey said they would be cutting less popular courses such as dance, music, textiles, and food.
One respondent said that any GCSE option with fewer than 15 students will not be run; others are reducing modern foreign language options, including one school which said it had axed German.
Amid all of this, the respondents are also particularly concerned about the condition of school buildings and facilities, with 69% having classrooms that need replacing or refurbishing and 41% having asbestos in ceilings and walls. Around 45% said they had boiler/heating systems that needed replacing, while 53% need to replace or refurbish sports facilities.
However, 80% of the respondents said that they have been unable to access sufficient capital funding to pay for repairs and maintenance.
Previously, the National Audit Office has estimated that 700,000 students are learning in schools that need major rebuilding or refurbishment work. However, the out-going government has allocated about 40% less for school buildings than its own assessments say is required.
An analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies earlier this month said that between 2010 and 2024 there has been no growth in spending per-pupil in real terms, something it said was “without precedent in recent history”.
Of ASCL’s respondents, 62% said they will be forced to run an in-year deficit budget and 43% are planning to ask for parental donations.
One headteacher told the researchers: “For the last two years I have been made utterly miserable by the process of budget planning because I know that the cuts I am making to try and avoid a deficit are making the educational offer at my school less good. I feel immensely depressed about presiding over this.
“What really upsets me is the loss of subjects, like music, which I feel should be a fundamental part of a secondary school curriculum but which I can no longer offer. I also worry about the impact of classes of 32 as a given.”
Another added: “Next year we will have to run a large in-year deficit which we can just about do for one year by using up our reserves but after that there will be nothing left to draw upon. In other words, two years of the current settlement and we go under.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government regularly claims that it is putting record investment into schools but the truth is that in many cases rising costs have outstripped funding allocations. This leaves schools with no option other than to run deficit budgets while they implement cost-cutting programmes.
“They do everything they possibly can to minimise the impact on their pupils, but in the end there is nowhere left to go other than to reduce staffing numbers with inevitable consequences for class sizes, the curriculum they are able to offer, and pastoral support.
“The subjects most likely to suffer are those with smaller numbers like music, drama, technology subjects and languages. What we are seeing is the gradual erosion of the curriculum breadth and richness which is a proud feature of our education system. It is death by a thousand cuts.”
- DfE: School pupils and their characteristics, 2024: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2023-24
- DfE: Permanent data table: 'Class sizes - state-funded primary and secondary schools' from 'Schools, pupils and their characteristics', 2024: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/4fa719df-3341-45e0-4772-08dc86117046