Academy policy has failed says ex-union leader
THE EX-PRESIDENT of the National Union of Teachers has warned that the education of children is too important to be entrusted to organisations that “can just walk away” after a Yorkshire academy chain revealed it is to offload all 21 of its schools.
The Government’s academisation programme has faced stinging criticism following the shock announcement from Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) on Friday.
Anne Swift said it was “astonishing” that the Department for Education has promoted a policy which can result in such a situation developing. She told The Yorkshire Post: “The education of our children is too important to be entrusted to organisations that can just walk away in this manner.
“Unfortunately this is not an isolated example and people may be shocked to realise that their local authority no longer has any powers to intervene when they see schools which need support.
“In the UK, England is unique in handing over the running of schools to trusts and sponsors without democratic oversight. How many more children and their families will be facing uncertain educational provision in multi-academy trusts? It’s time the Government recognised that the academisation of schools is a failed policy unable to deliver a quality education for all pupils.”
Just one week into the new academic year, staff, parents and students are now facing uncertainty
Continued from Page 1. following the shock announcement from WCAT last week.
A statement from the trust’s board said that after a “robust period of review and evaluation of all aspects of the organisation”, it had asked the Department for Education “work with [the board] to place our academies with new sponsors”. A new board was appointed in July 2016 to address “significant challenges” faced by the trust, particularly concerning “the quality of education provision”.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who has one of the affected schools – Freeston High School – in her Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford constituency, said: “The most important thing is to get the best possible education for all our children and make sure there is no disruption for individual schools as a result of this management confusion and failure.
“The Government’s system for local accountability is completely inadequate. For an academy trust to get into this situation at the beginning of the school year raises huge questions about the structures that the Government has put in place. I will be writing to the DfE to demand an immediate plan of action that will ensure that the children’s education is not harmed by this management disruption.”
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner added: “This case is yet another stark example of failure in the Government’s management of its academies programme.”