So the DFE has published today that they will not pass legislation forcing schools to become academies. On the face of it this is great news especially as we head into SATs. But reading the official publication is like seeing a washing machine at maximum revs: it is FULL of spin. Here’s my dissection based on the announcement from the DFE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-to-spread-educational-excellence-everywhere-announced
Government announces next steps in implementing the educational excellence everywhere white paper.
The government is committed to ensuring every child has an excellent education which allows them to achieve their full potential. The reforms of the past 6 years have led to 1.4 million more children being taught in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools. Central to this improvement has been the academy programme.
The academy programme puts control of running schools in the hands of teachers and school leaders – the people who know best how to run their schools. That’s why the government is committed to every school becoming an academy. This system will allow us to tackle underperformance far more swiftly than in a local-authority-maintained system where many schools have been allowed to languish in failure for years.
‘Most of the schools in England – 84 per cent in fact – are rated good or outstanding, so it’s right that we ask the government to explain why they think that this huge top-down reorganisation of schools is really necessary….In the primary sector, only 18 per cent of schools are academies.’
SG – So I reckon our local authorities haven’t been doing too badly
At the same time, it will allow our most successful and popular schools to expand their reach to even more children.
Since launching our proposals in the education white paper, the government has listened to feedback from MPs, teachers, school leaders and parents.
It is clear from those conversations that the impact academies have in transforming young people’s life chances is widely accepted and that more and more schools are keen to embrace academy status.
SG – really? The parent/pupil boycott on Tuesday 3rd of May 2016 was about a number of issues, the NAHT has been looking to strike and a straw poll survey by the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/04/27/policy-exchange-not-forcing-schools-to-become-academies-is-the-w/) shows 89% don’t want our schools to be forced into academies. That doesn’t sound like listening to me.
As for academies being better than other forms of school – no-one can give any evidence of this. I’d love it to be true, wouldn’t it be great to have a definite winning approach to schooling? But it’s just not that simple. Check out Professor Michael Bassey’s article on school improvement.net: http://bit.ly/1Wdg9kj
Undoubtedly there is common ground between Government, teachers, parents and the wider community that education matters and that children should receive good schooling. But the authors of this White Paper show a frightening level of ignorance about what good schooling is and how it is achieved. They are driven by ideology, not by reason. The contention that academy trusts will provide better schooling than local authorities is not substantiated by evidence.
As a result of these conversations, the government has decided, while reaffirming our continued determination to see all schools to become academies in the next 6 years, that it is not necessary to bring legislation to bring about blanket conversion of all schools to achieve this goal.
Yay! 🙂
The government will continue to require underperforming schools to convert to academy status where they can benefit from the support of a strong sponsor. One hundred and four directive academy orders have already been issued to underperforming schools in the last month since the new legislation came into force.
We will also continue to support ‘good’ schools to convert and to take the lead in supporting other schools as part of multi-academy trusts. In the last monthly figures 227 schools put in applications to convert, the highest monthly figure since the programme began, and we expect this rate to increase.
Jump or be pushed (eventually).
In addition, the government will bring forward legislation which will trigger conversion of all schools within a local authority in 2 specific circumstances:
- firstly, where it is clear that the local authority can no longer viably support its remaining schools because a critical mass of schools in that area has converted. Under this mechanism a local authority will also be able to request the Department for Education converts all of its remaining schools
- secondly, where the local authority consistently fails to meet a minimum performance threshold across its schools, demonstrating an inability to bring about meaningful school improvement
Oh, this is where it gets really good. Local ‘authorities can no longer viably support its remaining schools’ – with cuts in their resources it will only be harder to support their schools. Are schools allowed to opt back to LA support and not become an academy? I doubt it, looks like a one-way street.
Secondly…how will it be decided an LA is failing? Nicely woolly.
This is now going to be academisation by stealth (a bit like the NHS is going die by a thousand cuts).
These measures will target those schools where the need to move to academy status is most pressing. For other high-performing schools in strong local authorities the choice of whether to convert will remain the decision of the individual schools and governing bodies in question.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said:
Making every school an academy is the best way to ensure every child, regardless of birth or background, has access to a world-class education.
There is no evidence of this.
“It is also worth noting that converter academies were all good or outstanding schools before they became academies, and the Government has not chosen to highlight the results in sponsored academies which are significantly lower, with only 44.7% of children achieving five or more good GCSEs (including English and Maths) compared to 63.3% in converter academies.” Source: http://bit.ly/1Tq9aRD
I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools to become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from Parliamentary colleagues and the education sector we will now change the path to reaching that goal.
By focusing our efforts on those schools most at risk of failing young people, and encouraging ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools to seize the opportunities of conversion, we will ensure the continued growth of the academy programme, empowering frontline heads and school leads, and transforming even more children’s education.
The government is also announcing a package of measures to guarantee the continued success of small rural schools.
Hundreds of small rural schools that currently receive no top-up funding to address the unique pressures they face will benefit from landmark changes made to school ‘sparsity funding’. This means over 1,200 small rural schools will receive specific targeted support. For more than 700 of those schools, their local authority currently chooses not to provide the top up, but the new national funding formula will provide sparsity funding for every single one.
Alongside the existing statutory presumption against closure of rural schools, the government will go further, introducing a new ‘double lock’ so that when small rural schools convert to academy status both local and national government have to agree to a school closing before a decision can be made.
No small successful schools will be forced to join a national academy chain – most small schools will choose to join multi-academy trusts made up of other local schools, though small sustainable schools will be able to convert alone if they wish. To support them there will be dedicated support from experts in the Department for Education to help primary schools through the process of conversion and a £10 million fund for small schools to secure expert support and advice.
The government has allocated £300 million that will be available to support schools to convert and, in particular, support sponsors to turn around failing schools. A further £300 million will support strong and effective multi-academy trusts to grow and improve. And, in recognition of the costs that local authorities and church dioceses face, funding will also be provided to them.
Imagine what our schools could do with all this money if it wasn’t spent on academisation. Imagine what they could do with the time not spend on academisation!
£310 million to support all schools, how about we just put that into our schools? This funding comes on top of the government’s protection to the core schools budget which will be over £40 billion next year, including the pupil premium – funding worth £2.5 billion a year targeted at the most disadvantaged pupils. This is the highest-ever level of funding for schools of any government.
Every school I walk into (and that’s 4 – 6 a week) is feeling the squeeze on their budget. So while the government are talking about all this money going into schools, it certainly doesn’t feel that way.