Schools are losing 1,000 teacher jobs

More than 1,000 teaching jobs have been wiped out in the national funding crisis, it was claimed today.

The cash squeeze has also seen at least 800 teachers made redundant by education chiefs unable to meet wage bills.

The figures were revealed by local education authorities as millions of children prepared to start the new school year. It suggests many will return to classrooms with fewer specialists and worse pupil-to-teacher ratios.

The development follows a series of cash crises which teaching bodies blame on the Government for refusing to meet higher wage costs.

A union survey last week claimed 3,500 jobs had been lost in the past year but this was dismissed by ministers as an exaggeration.

The latest survey, commissioned by the Guardian, estimates the national picture as 2,500 fewer posts overall.

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the NUT, the biggest union, said: "This is the physical manifestation of the Government's inability to get its sums right.

"Children are returning to school this week and many of them will be in larger classes, will have too few teachers and the support staff to help teachers won't be there. They will suffer as a direct result of the Government's failures."

A government spokesman today admitted there was a problem in some areas but said the latest survey was flawed and failed to take into account a fall in the school population.

"One of the primary reasons is falling rolls, voluntary redundancies and the general turbulence you get at the start of term," he said. "That's not to say there has not been an issue."

The knock-on effect of the cutbacks is that the hours pupils spend in lessons is likely to be reduced - while some noncore curriculum subjects such as modern languages and music could disappear entirely. NUT London regional secretary Tim Harrison warned that A-level pupils were already being affected. "Schools are looking at ways of managing with less teachers - they are not replacing staff who leave. So if a modern languages teacher is leaving they are cutting back on that subject.

"A-levels are expensive in terms of money per pupil. I have evidence that is a particular target for cutbacks."

Headteacher at Ashmole School in Barnet, Derrick Brown, said he had lost three teachers over the summer - in core curriculum subjects history, geography and science - but could not replace them. "We've had to reduce the number of lessons for A-levels by one fifth across the board," he said.

Hendon School acting head Linda Marsh said she had lost two full-time teachers and two support staff this year.

She added: "We had a deficit of £250,000. If I'd balanced the books I would have had to make 10 people redundant, and that would mean only teaching for four days and closing the school for one, or illegal things like not fulfilling the national curriculum."

Geoff Berridge, chair of Hampstead School's governors, said: "We are having to lose two support staff. This places a strain on the special needs department."

General secretary of the Secondary Heads Association John Dunford said many schools had been "very badly hit".

He added: "About one third will have cut back on staff but many others will have reduced the amount they spend on books and staff training. The cutbacks in lesson times will have an effect on the quality of education."