Commenting on the Better Spaces for Learning report into the state of school buildings by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, said:
“RIBA’s report echoes the NASUWT’s own findings. The NASUWT has been warning since the then Coalition Government scrapped the Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010 that too little money is being invested in maintaining and improving school buildings.
“Over a third of teachers who responded to a recent NASUWT survey said their school building was not fit to teach in and 40% said their buildings were not good for pupils.
“The Government has failed to put in place an effective strategy to protect school staff and pupils from the asbestos which remains in the fabric of many of our schools and its cuts to local authority and school budgets have left pupils to learn in buildings which are not fit for the demands of the 21st century curriculum.
“Ministers must recognise that greater investment in high-quality, fit for purpose school buildings is an investment in the higher standards of pupil attainment and school achievement which it claims to be so focused on.”
Contact:
Lena Davies
Press & Media Officer
NASUWT
0121 457 6250/07867 392746
lena.davies@mail.nasuwt.org.uk
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