Lack of funds can affect school standards, education boss warns

The head of PISA global education rankings, Andreas Schleicher, has raised concerns about the financial difficulties that schools are currently facing.

He believes that financial shortages could lead to problems with the quality of schools.

This comes following a number of financial issues that schools in England have been facing, such as the recent announcement of the Treasury taking back £384 million, which was to be used to convert schools into academies.

In light of this, head teachers have warned that they may have to cut school hours and governors have threatened to stop working.

Schleicher, education director of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, the group that runs the PISA ranking, told Tes: “The school system today is your economy tomorrow, and that is something I worry about when governments have an attitude of ‘oh well, lets cut some corners here’.”

The PISA ranking, which was released in December, also shows that the UK has made little progress in the last three years.

The results, which are determined by tests taken by 15-year-olds in over 70 countries, show that the UK is below high performers like Singapore and Finland.

The Department of Education has stated that government funding is now at a record level.