Headteachers warn there’s ‘no end in sight’ to concrete crisis in schools

Hundreds of schools had to stay shut last week due to the ongoing concrete crisis and union leaders still don’t know when it will end.

Pupils saw their return to schools for the new term disrupted due to safety fears over collapse-prone concrete that has been found in buildings around the country.

A total of 147 schools in the UK have been found to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), meaning they have had to fully or partially close, or deliver a mixture of online and face-to-face learning.

Now headteachers are complaining about being left in the dark over the extent of the crisis as they try to minimise the impact it is having on young people’s learning.

And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union told the Mirror there is ‘no end in sight’ in this crisis and they currently ‘don’t know how many schools could be affected’.

Mr Whiteman said: ‘School leaders are working flat out to minimise the impact of this crisis upon pupils.

‘However, we still don’t know how many schools could be affected, and delays in getting surveys done and the disruption caused by work to tackle the issue means there is currently no end in sight.’

He added that, despite the best efforts of the union’s members, the disruption to lessons and teaching will have an inevitable impact on the children affected.

General secretary of the NASUWT, the Teachers’ Union, Dr Patrick Roach said it’s ‘anyone’s guess’ how long the crumbling concrete crisis could last due to the absence of a national register or plan.

He said the lack of plan means the situation is only ‘set to get worse rather than better’, adding that the government’s handling of the crisis so far has been ‘inept’.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said that once again schools are ‘rising to a challenge which they could not possibly have foreseen – and it is a great shame that the government did not act much sooner over an issue that it has known about since 2018’.

He said that, despite this, schools will be working very hard to minimise disruption to children’s education and continue to deliver ‘excellent learning as they always do’.

Mr Barton added that it’s difficult to put a timescale on how long it will take to resolve the building safety issues in a number of schools.

As the crisis continues it has emerged that the government failed to carry out surveys that would have highlighted issues like asbestos and crumbly concrete before buying sites for free schools.

Documents the Observer has seen suggests the government agency that had the task of buying sites for the free schools project bought disused buildings but didn’t undertake the surveys that experts say are vital.

The concrete crisis has also impacted other public buildings including medical centres, council officers and police stations.

The use of RAAC largely impacts buildings built between the 1950s and 1980s.

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