BORIS JOHNSON “does not understand” the scale of the funding crisis in Britain’s schools, trade unionists have warned after a leaked document revealed government plans to change the education system.

A confidential briefing marked “official-sensitive” shows discussions taking place among members of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s team over how to “reform” Britain’s struggling schools.

Controversial suggestions include creating a new generation of “free schools” and setting up alternative schools for excluded children.

The Department for Education will also encourage school leaders to ban mobile phones from classrooms and support greater use of force by teachers, while giving a green light to privatise local-authority schools and turn them into academies.

Although some suggestions included offering cash injections to impoverished schools and raising teachers’ basic salary to £30,000 by 2022, unions have condemned the proposals in the leaked documents as an inefficient approach to solving the crisis.

Last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that education funding had been cut by 4 per cent in real terms since 2015, after chancellor George Osborne froze all spending on schools.

NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted lashed out at the proposals, saying: “Boris Johnson and his party still do not understand the full scale of the crisis facing schools. 

“The government must invest in all schools and colleges across the country and give councils the powers they need to open schools where there is genuine need for new places.

“Instead, it seems they intend to throw more public money at their failed and discredited free-school programme.

“They need to restore the real-terms value of teachers’ pay and remove the excessive workload and accountability burdens that are driving teachers out of the profession.”

The GMB union, which represents teaching assistants, was angered by parts of the leaked document which appear to suggest the Tories believe that there are “too many” such staff.

GMB public services national secretary Rehana Azam said: “Teaching assistants make an invaluable contribution to the lives of often vulnerable children and it is completely out of touch to state otherwise.

“These reported comments betray a shocking ignorance of the value that teaching assistants bring to schools and the communities they serve. 

“GMB will fight tooth and nail against any attack on the employment of our teaching-assistant members and other school support staff workers.”