NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union has launched a major campaign to declare an emergency in education funding and teacher wellbeing.

70% of teachers surveyed tell NASUWT that their school does not receive the funding needed to provide quality teaching and learning, and NASUWT estimates that one in four schools will be in serious financial trouble by the next school year.

The Fix Our Future, Fund Education campaign has a stark message: education funding is stuck in the past, and the only way to save teachers’ and pupils’ futures is to provide a substantial increase in funding.

In the campaign’s emotive launch film, entitled Stop Asking Teachers to do More with Less, NASUWT teachers ask the audience: “We stand at the front of class, look thirty futures in the face…we look after their wellbeing, but who looks after ours?”

The campaign is inspired by data and stories from thousands of teachers, who describe school laptops being held together with duct tape, exhausting workloads, ballooning class sizes, and pupils’ worlds growing smaller due to failing support systems and cancelled school trips.

“A general fog exists over the finances in our school,” one teacher tells NASUWT via survey. “No discussion, no transparency. It is disturbing to witness.”

In August 2026, NASUWT surveyed 1900 teachers in England and found that:

• 70% of respondents think that their school does not receive the funding needed for quality teaching and learning (rising to 78% for primary schools) and only 8.8% said their school has adequate funding.
• 67% reported cuts to in-classroom support from TAs (rising to 81% in primary schools) and 67% saw staff not replaced after leaving. 57% report cuts to classroom resources.
• 40% report their schools utilising split classes (classes that include more than one year group), despite the National Audit Office projecting just a 1.3% drop in primary pupils in 2027-28.
• Almost three quarters (73.4%) of the teachers report spending their own money for work, with 54% reporting spending on stationery and 42% spending on learning resources. 20% spend at least £50 per month, with 10% spending more than £100 per month.
• 92% of respondents say that complexity of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has increased at their school, yet 69% say they will not have the resources and support required to meet those pupils’ needs.
• 50% of respondents say that funding cuts have led to significant or unsustainable workload increases.

When asked for their message to Andy Burnham, one teacher said:

“Come and spend just a day with me - let me show you why the CEO, COO and Regional Directors of my Trust do not deserve to earn more money than you!”

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“It’s time the public hear the truth about education funding. At just 4.1% of GDP, it is near the lowest it has been since the1960s. Andy Burnham may have bold ideas about new technical education but we still don’t know if this will mean extra funding. While he raises the public’s expectations with unfunded promises, teachers and pupils pay the price.

“The government cannot hide behind claims that a reduction in funding is due to falling pupil numbers. 1.3% fewer primary pupils should never equate to 78% of primary teachers saying their school doesn’t have enough funding, or 80% of primary teachers reporting cuts to TA support. Cuts in education are happening at an alarmingly disproportionate rate, hitting our youngest and most vulnerable pupils hardest.

“When the government gives teachers less and expects them to do more, it says: you’ll just have to get on with it, no matter how much it hurts. When the government asks teachers to support increasing numbers of SEND pupils without the resources to make it work, it says: you don’t matter enough for us to care. Teachers deserve better. Our children deserve better. Frankly, the government must do better.

“Education funding should be 6% of GDP as a minimum, and we must eliminate profiteering within the system. The Budget is right around the corner, so Andy Burnham, it’s up to you: Fix Our Future, Fund Education – or leave teachers and pupils to suffer, and watch all your bold plans fail.”