Campaign launched to highlight resource spending drop in schools

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has launched a new campaign to highlight the impact of the sharp drop in resources expenditure in UK schools over the past two years.

The Resource Our Schools initiative, which has already attracted support from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and numerous subject associations, comes following procurement research published by BESA that shows that primary schools are spending 3.7 per cent less on resources than last year.

It also shows that secondary schools are spending 5.7 per cent less. ICT in secondary schools is being hit the hardest, with a year-on-year decline in expenditure of 7.5 per cent.

The research, undertaken with a representative sample of 906 school leaders by the National Education Research Panel (NERP), reveals that 53 per cent of primary schools and 52 per cent of secondary schools say their school is not adequately funded to provide a suitable teaching and learning environment.

Seventy-nine per cent of primary leaders and 92 per cent of secondary leaders also say they are not optimistic about future funding for their schools.

The campaign is intended to highlight the importance of ensuring that every school has access to the resources they need to deliver the education that children deserve.

Schools, parents, suppliers and general election candidates will be encouraged to sign up to the Resource Our Schools statement in the run-up to the election, with the signatures presented to the next Secretary of State for Education when the new government is in place.

Announcing the launch of the campaign, Caroline Wright, director general of BESA, said: "It is vital that pupils have access to high-quality classroom resources. The unprecedented and continued pressure on school budgets over recent years is now having a real and lasting damaging impact on the quality of our children's education. Politicians must act to stop the cuts now."