In my view...

Devon school governor Jo Frith talks about the Hands Up campaign

Jo Frith is an active supporter of the Hands Up campaign. It’s a campaign she hopes parents and governors from across England will support over the coming months to ensure fair education funding for children wherever they live.

 She is a retired marketing and business consultant who first became involved in education 20 years ago as a governor of a number of different schools in London where she was then working. She is chair of the finance and environment committee at Littletown Primary in Honiton, Devon, and a member of the Devon Hands Up campaign group.

In this interview for Hands Up, she gives her personal perspective on why this campaign is so important.

“I have been appalled to discover that around England children are funded on very differential scales for their education, and yet many of the major costs for staffing and teaching resources, for example, are really set nationally.

“The result of all this is that the rate at which children’s education is funded can be twice as much in one area as in another.

“Looking at the issue as a Devon school governor I know that currently every one of the 94,000 children currently at school in the county is worth £375 less than the national average for their education.

“In a 1,000-pupil secondary school, that could pay for 10 extra teachers.

“It means that out of the 151 local education authorities in England, Devon comes third from bottom in the league table of education funding and is the lowest of all the South West councils.

“For years successive Governments have funded each education authority differently through a complex formula based on such issues as deprivation and special educational needs and making allowances for higher costs in London and the South East.

“But the bottom line – literally – is that every school in Devon receives far less to educate our children to the same National Curriculum as virtually every other school across England. This is not just a major concern in Devon, it is also serious problem in many other relatively poorly funded areas of England.

“It seems an obvious point to make but children really are the bedrock of our future society.

“Whether we’re parents or not, I think we should all invest what time and effort we can to ensure our children are as ready as possible to become informed and responsible citizens in the future.

“In some ways that is for selfish reasons – they will be working and paying the taxes that will fund our pensions and they will become the opinion-formers who determine our future quality of life.

“But it’s also so fulfilling seeing the difference we can make to children. Most of that is achieved by the efforts of the children themselves and the work of their teachers but I feel governors make a difference as well.

“That’s why I believe the campaign for Fair Funding for children’s education is so important because schools in Devon and other parts of England are struggling for money all the time.

“The way the current formula is calculated leads to dreadful anomalies. It leaves schools in some parts of the country with budgets that are too small now to support the full level of activities and meet rising costs.

“Just think what life-enhancing experiences and learning all our childen could enjoy if only there was equality of education funding and opportunity. Think how this could help our children become the major leaders and contributors to a vibrant future.

“One example is that there is a national aspiration that every child should have a computer in school within three or four years.

“My own school, Littletown, is a comparatively big school for Devon and we have been able to provide a range of extended services as well as being home to a children’s centre.

“But even with our growing pupil population we will not have the money to buy all the extra computers we would need, provide all our staff with the latest IT training and employ technicians to keep 300-plus machines up and running.

”Children in poorly funded areas such as Devon will always lag behind in opportunities unless we get a fair settlement for education funding.”