Redundancies loom at schools in region

More than 100 teachers are being made redundant at schools in the Black Country and Staffordshire this academic year, it was revealed today. At least seven teaching assistant posts are also being axed.

It comes as schools across the country face ever-tightening budgets, while the number of pupils on the roll is also a factor. In Staffordshire, the equivalent of 77 full-time teaching posts will be cut from September this year, with 40 schools affected across the county.

In Walsall, 12 teaching jobs will go through a mixture of compulsory and voluntary redundancies or the end of their contract, while a further seven teaching assistants will be axed.

Five compulsory redundancies will come into force in Dudley schools, with 10 voluntary redundancies.

Liz Staples, education chief at Staffordshire County Council, said the cuts were equivalent to one per cent of the total number of teachers in the county.

"Each governing body looks at the various factors when making a decision about how many teachers the school will need to employ during the following academic year.

"The figure is equivalent to one per cent of the total number of teachers working in Staffordshire schools. This means that over 300 schools will ewither be keeping the same number of teachers or adding to their staff."

Russ Bragger, spokesman for NUT, said: "We are aware of some redundancies for teachers, somewhere between 10 and 15, but this wasn't on the scale we though it might be.

Sandwell Council today said redundancies was a matter for individual schools. Meanwhile, Wolverhampton City Council was unavailable for comment although union bosses said they were not aware of any redundancies at city schools.

At Wood Green High School, in Wednesbury, new jobs are being created and the Wood Green Road school has not been affected by redundancies.

Headteacher Pank Patel said: "Money is going to be tight for schools."