A third of Yorkshire’s schools now have academy status
Yorkshire’s schools revolution
not least my preference for young people to have a choice between different types of secondary schools within a multi-academy trust and also the way subjects can be transferred from primary to secondary.
“But I also feel multi-academy trusts have to be structured properly with the right lines of accountability and the right kind of leadership. That’s why I think if they are rushed such matters are not exactly dealt with well.
“Multi-academy trusts need to take into account the interests of the communities and engage with communities and parents. Mr Carmichael said the role of the Regional Schools Commissioner was key in terms of finding sponsors and keeping an eye on how academies and multi-academy trusts were performing.
The commissioners were introduced in 2014 to approve academy conversions and monitor standards at academies and free schools in their areas.
He said: “In the long-run Regional Schools Commissioners will need to be tooled up with the appropriate resources to deal with the increasing number of academies and multi-academy trusts. There will be a need for strengthening that function.
“Working with Ofsted and the Regional Schools Commissioner, it’s important we can see how multi-academy trusts are developing because we don’t want them to get into trouble rather than develop and prosper.”
Teaching union the Association of Teachers and Lecturers opposes academies on the grounds that there is a lack of evidence that academies improve education. It also believes the process of converting schools into academies is disruptive to learning, and that the money spent on conversion would be better being put towards raising standards in existing schools.
A spokeswoman for the union said: “We are also concerned about the lack of oversight of academies - the Government has not put good mechanisms in place to stop them wasting money or fraud.
“There are not enough good multi-academy trusts – over half are underperforming for children aged 11 and 16.”
The union has also raised concerns about admission policies and about academies excluding children they think will be harder to teach and may bring down their school league table position, such as disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs.
INNOVATION IS essential if Yorkshire’s schools are to continue rising up national league tables – complacency is not an option after too many LEAs in this region presided over the stagnation of academic attainment.
Education must not be left to chance. The future prospects of all young people are at stake and the conversion of almost half of all Yorkshire schools to academies, independent of town hall control, is indicative of the Government’s approach since 2010.
Yet, while Ministers want all schools to become independent and funded directly by Whitehall, therefore rendering longstanding LEAs redundant, it is important that political ideology does not stand in the way of policy practicalities when the North-South skills gap remains so accentuated.
This is self-evident with the ongoing funding row. Without local councils highlighting spending disparities and discrepancies, some schools might be at an even greater financial disadvantage.
And while there are academies which are beginning to transform standards at previously under-performing schools, particularly those operating within clusters to reduce management overheads, it’s still too early to assess whether these reforms will achieve the intended results.
After all, there’s only a finite amount of money – the benevolence of philanthropists and other patrons cannot be guaranteed – and there are legitimate concerns about the management of some academies and whether some are skewing their admissions policy in order to favour those pupils who are most likely to meet, or exceed, the Government’s GCSE benchmarks.
This makes the role of Regional Schools Commissioners even more important. Not only is it their duty to uphold standards across the board, but they must ensure that every child receives a fair chance and that the quality of teaching is world-class. As such, there’s much to prove before it can be said with greater certainty that academies will make the grade and achieve better results than LEAs.