Headteachers could take industrial action or refuse to cut staff in fight over school funding

School leaders chant 'it is not good enough' as they back motion to step up campaign

Headteachers could refuse to make staff redundant or strike over funding cuts.

School leaders at the annual National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union conference chanted “it is not good enough” as talks moved to the "funding crisis".

Members passed a motion to explore options “up to and including industrial action”, which could include strikes, if the government fails to increase spending on schools.

Other possible action includes refusing to make redundancies in order to balance the budget.

London headteacher Dave Woods, who proposed the motion, said it was a “national scandal” that the fifth largest economy in the world was “unwilling” to invest in future generations.

He added: “The effects of the crisis are evident for all of us to see with many schools forced to cut the teaching week, thousands of support staff and increasing numbers of teachers made redundant.

“Schools asking parents for donations just to make ends meet in decrepit, broken, run-down buildings which our members cannot afford to repair.”

Chris Knowles, a headteacher from North Yorkshire, told the conference in Telford that he was “ashamed” that school leaders were being forced to make teachers redundant because of squeezed budgets.

He added that he had made every possible cutback, even replacing Blu Tack with a cheaper "blue slime".

"I am ashamed of that fact that we are having to make redundancies at school. We have all got to stand up and fight for our colleagues and the children that they serve so well,” Mr Knowles said.

NAHT members vowed to step up their campaign and invest more resources to reverse funding cuts.

Emily Proffitt, a headteacher from Staffordshire, told the conference: “It is our time. Headteachers are standing up and are shouting out.

“They will no longer sit in their offices with their heads buried in their hands wondering how they are going to cut their cloth.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, praised the tenacity of headteachers in the financial climate.

Speaking at the conference on Sunday, he said: “Despite the chaos, despite the frequent heartbreak, despite the hard work, despite the toll taken on you and your family, you carry on.

“Not only do you carry on but you find solutions and push for improvement. You don’t just throw criticism from the sidelines you take part, you step up.”

Addressing hundreds of heads on Friday, education secretary Damian Hinds said he recognised that finances are “challenging” for many schools.

He said: “We are approaching a comprehensive spending review. There are always competing demands on public funds, but I will be setting out the case, the very strong case, for education.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We are clear that industrial action disrupts children's education, inconveniences parents and damages the profession's reputation in the eyes of the public.

"The core schools and high needs budget is rising from almost £41bn in 2017-18 to a record £43.5bn by 2019-20 and we have introduced a wide range of support to help schools reduce costs and get the best value from their resources.”