EDUCATION is the ‘door of opportunity’, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn spending review statement, and I couldn’t agree more.

Education not only enables individuals, but it is a tool for society to better itself. It requires long-term planning and investment to be successful. As an educator, it is immensely rewarding to see your students grow and succeed, but schools don’t find this easy when they’re under-funded and ‘strategy’ is changing every year.

In my view, schools are fundamental to producing the workforce and citizens of the future – not just in the lifetime of the next parliament. However the fact is schools are increasingly having to be run like businesses, putting the focus on high quality teaching and learning at risk. School leaders and governors know that ‘cost pressures are biting’ (as reported by BBC News). The Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned there will be significant cost pressures of up to 8% on schools over the next five years, and currently all schools are having to find extra resources to cover rises in pension, National Insurance and pay costs with no additional funding. It is not surprising that recent data has revealed the average permitted deficits for indebted schools has almost doubled to £122,828 since 2013-14.

However, potentially, there is some good news on the horizon for previously under-funded counties: there is to be a consultation on a fairer funding formula for schools. Historically rural students and their schools have seen much lower levels of funding per pupil than their urban counterparts, and a redistribution of funds could be good news for many school children in Shropshire.

Of course it doesn’t solve the problem that almost all county schools are facing of falling rolls, but let’s hope the ‘door of opportunity’ for rural children starts to be properly funded in the near future. After all, it’s not much of a door if you can’t afford the key.