Primary schools are said to have suffered the most

More than half of the primary schools and nearly two thirds of the secondaries were worse off.

The report was commissioned by the NUT teachers' union from experts at the centre for education and employment research at Liverpool University.

The government says the union "appears to have lost touch with reality".

The findings would suggest the crisis was worse than any other survey has indicated.

Scaling

The report's authors, Professor Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson, collected data from representative schools: 980 primary schools (5% of the total) and 368 secondary schools (10%).

New teacher Beth Wooldridge faces being made redundant next year Education is like the key to the future of Britain, and I'm disposable, and that's not a good thing

They were sent a questionnaire on changes in pupil numbers, staffing and budget settlements, and any impact on the curriculum.

The findings were then scaled up to represent the whole of England and Wales.

This led the researchers to conclude that 4,920 primary schools have cut 5,502 teaching posts and 1,1970 secondary schools have cut 3,115 teaching posts.

Only one in 10 schools had more money than last year, "despite government claims of a 6.7% increase rising to 11.6% when specific grants from the Standards Fund are included".

Some got more

Almost one in five primary schools and 29% of secondary schools said they would have to set deficit budgets - that is, go into the red.

Falling pupil numbers affected less than a third of primary schools and only 11.7% of secondary schools.

This report paints a frightening picture of the damage the government's failure to fund schools properly this year is doing to the provision of education The NUT's Doug McAvoy

Some schools were better off, due to changes in the way education funding was distributed in England this year.

In Wales, half the schools said budget settlements had remained the same, though a few thought they had improved.

On average, primary schools that lost money were �32,032 worse off, secondary schools �129,367.

Those that had more had gained by �38,999 and �146,588 respectively.

They were able to improve staffing, with an estimated increase of 1,165 primary teaching posts and 3,135 secondary.

That meant a net loss of 4,336 primary teachers' posts. There was a net gain of 20 secondary posts - but 2,500 had been needed to keep pace with rising pupil numbers, Prof Smithers said.

Some 2,000 teachers were actually made redundant: 1,240 in primary schools and 760 in secondary schools.

And about 12,300 support staff posts were lost. Most (86.4%) were teaching assistants, but clerical assistants, technicians, librarians and school meals staff also went.

Using reserves

The report also looked at the impact on teaching.

It says the most common effect was larger classes - in half the secondary schools and a fifth of primary schools.

"Planning, preparation and marking time, already very limited, was being reduced for primary teachers.

"More use was being made of teaching assistants and efforts were being made to recruit less expensive staff."

Primary head teachers have been doing more teaching themselves.

'Mistake'

The NUT's general secretary, Doug McAvoy, said: "This report paints a frightening picture of the damage the government's failure to fund schools properly this year is doing to the quality of education.

The scale of these figures, again based on a very small sample, does not remotely tally with other assessments Department for Education

"Huge numbers of schools face more redundancies next year and deeper cuts in their budgets with no reserves to turn to for help.

"The report shows the reality of what the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, calls a 'mistake'.

"That mistake is resulting in job losses, larger classes, subjects wiped off the timetable, teachers taking subjects they are not qualified to teach, improvement plans shelved, and new developments put on hold."

The government must review the way it funded schools, he said.

'Off the scale'

A spokesperson for the Department for Education and Skills said there had been a number of surveys on the issue, all with varying estimates of teacher redundancies.

"We know that some schools have had problems with funding this year and we are working very closely in partnership with head teacher representatives and local government to ensure that these problems are not repeated," she said.

"However, the NUT appears to have lost touch with reality. The scale of these figures, again based on a very small sample, does not remotely tally with other assessments we have seen from other teacher unions such as NASUWT."

Steps were being taken to give head teachers "certainty and stability" in their budgets.

The shadow education secretary, Damian Green, said: "This is even more evidence that the government has crippled the efforts of many schools to raise standards by its failure to solve the funding crisis.

"Many pupils' education will be permanently damaged because of the government's incompetence."