Overcoming the Bulk Funding Blockage: The Ministerial Reference Group on School Staffing

Abstract

The report of the Ministerial Reference Group on school staffing, while ostensibly addressing the mechanism by which the supply of teachers to schools is calculated, has greater significance for schools. Its recommendations appear to be related to neo-liberal theories of the state. Not only do they provide another opportunity for schools to choose to be bulk funded for teacher salaries, but they also introduce competition between schools by reducing staffing levels in smaller schools, and by providing capped contestable pools of funds for which schools must compete. The article explores the implications of these developments for the national collective contracts of teachers.