Teachers struggling to fill the gaps in decimated children’s services

Commenting on the report Teaching: The New Reality by Education Support, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union said:

“Over the last 13 years schools and colleges have been defunded while services for children and families, especially the most vulnerable, have been decimated.

“This is yet more evidence highlighting how teachers and headteachers are trying to repair the damage that has been inflicted on the system for more than a decade.

“Teachers and headteachers want the very best for every child but they are struggling to hold together a system that is already broken.

“Schools are trying their best whilst vulnerable children are left waiting for months, if not years, to access vital mental health assessments and support.

“Services for children are so over-stretched and under resourced that real harm is being done to children’s wellbeing and welfare.

“Children and young people deserve an education system built on high investment, not a system which is predicated on educating children on the cheap and where teachers are expected to take on the role of social workers and counsellors in addition to their teaching responsibilities.”