tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/academies-8832/articlesAcademies – The Conversation2023-09-14T16:15:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113702023-09-14T16:15:21Z2023-09-14T16:15:21ZShould you send your child to an academy or a council-run school? Why Ofsted results don’t mean much<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545739/original/file-20230831-21-n7bhi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4984%2C3325&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-elementary-school-pupils-on-climbing-284502623">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Helping your child choose a new school is a daunting process. You have to take into account catchment areas, how your child will travel to school, and where their friends are going. You may be looking at Ofsted results, exam performance or even the universities that pupils from particular schools go to. </p>
<p>What’s more, there are different types of state school – and you might be wondering if your child would be better off at an academy or a locally controlled, council-run comprehensive school. </p>
<p>There are also a few free, grammar, secondary-modern, specialist, foundation, or university-led schools, which might play into your choice. This (needless) variety of schools applies particularly to the secondary age group in England, but the split between academies and locally controlled schools applies also to the primary sector.</p>
<h2>Academy or council-run?</h2>
<p>Locally run schools are able to work with the local authority and to cooperate between themselves to provide experts to deal with learning challenges or disability. Roaming teachers serve more than one school for rarer topics such as musical instrument tuition. </p>
<p>Academies, on the other hand, have meant different things across different government administrations. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/may/26/what-is-an-academy">academies</a> were first established in 2002 there were only meant to be a few of them. They were designed to be a way to turn failing schools around, through new buildings, new management, new curriculum, and standalone independence. They were answerable directly to central government and so were not part of their local authority. And they were given additional initial and recurrent funding. </p>
<p>Then existing schools, including private ones, were allowed to choose to become academies, even when not deemed to be failing. These were often not disadvantaged schools, and the reason for the scheme became confused. Then came several pushes to make all schools into academies, whether they wanted it or not.</p>
<p>The reason for all of these changes by a Conservative government may have been to remove more schools from Labour local authority control. Another reason given was that the independence of academies was a benefit. </p>
<p>But it was soon learned that schools cannot operate alone. Instead of moving them back to local authority control, the decision was made to group them in chains or <a href="https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/academies">academy trusts</a>. There is no evidence that the often scattered schools in such chains are better off than they would have been as local cooperative communities.</p>
<h2>Ofsted results</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/analysis-ofsted-inspection-outcomes-school-type-2023">recent report</a> has suggested that schools in England classified as academies had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/03/council-maintained-schools-in-england-outperforming-academies-in-ofsted-ratings">somewhat worse</a> Ofsted inspection grades than schools still controlled by their local authorities. Ofsted is the government-appointed body used to inspect and judge the quality of schools. </p>
<p>This might suggest that parents should look to choose local council-run schools ahead of academies. But a <a href="https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2023/08/are-la-schools-more-likely-to-get-top-ofsted-ratings-than-academies/">re-analysis</a> of the same Ofsted data suggests that the difference between academies and locally controlled schools is much less clear-cut than in the initial report. </p>
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<img alt="Pupils playing musical instruments" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545742/original/file-20230831-23-porohz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">School results depend more on pupil intake than the schools themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teen-student-playing-saxophone-her-school-585788390">DGLimages/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Either way, Ofsted grades are not trustworthy or reliable estimates of school quality. They are far too strongly influenced by the nature of the pupils attending each school. </p>
<p>On average, but only on average, schools find it more challenging to deal with pupils who have additional learning needs or a disability, are low-attaining, come from poor homes, have separated parents, live in state care or are otherwise heavily disadvantaged.</p>
<p>Ofsted does not seem to take these factors into account sufficiently. This means that good Ofsted scores are not fairly spread but are far more likely for suburban, girls-only, selective schools with no long-term poor pupils, for example. Perhaps <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/education-policy">70% of the variation</a> in Ofsted grades can be explained by these factors. </p>
<p>If Ofsted grades do not tell us whether academies or local schools are better, perhaps we should look at exam results. The same problem arises here. School exam outcomes are largely the result of their pupil intake. </p>
<h2>Differences between pupils</h2>
<p>Schools that take high-attaining pupils at age 11 get good exam results when those pupils are aged 16. Schools that take heavily disadvantaged pupils tend to get lower results. So the early academies based on the most disadvantaged schools in the country had lower-than-average results. </p>
<p>Once the disadvantage requirement was dropped, and private schools also became academies, the situation changed. Note that this did not mean that academies had improved educationally – merely that their pupil intake had changed. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244018825171">best estimates</a>, taking prior attainment and all relevant school and pupil characteristics into account, suggest that there are no systematic differences between school types. There is no evidence that either academies or local schools produce better results with equivalent pupils. </p>
<p>As more and different kinds of schools became academies, they became less disadvantaged than many local schools. Now some areas with more academies, especially those that have more recently converted to become academies, take more advantaged pupils. This means that the intakes of council-run schools <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2015.1045446">become more disadvantaged</a>.</p>
<p>This kind of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Making-Schools-Better-for-Disadvantaged-Students-The-International-Implications/Gorard-See-Siddiqui/p/book/9781032262499?utm_source=individuals&utm_medium=shared_link&utm_campaign=B029454_te1_1au_7pp_d876_october2022inproduction">social segregation</a> is undesirable for a national school system. It damages average attainment, pupil prospects, and social cohesion.</p>
<p>So there is no particular educational reason for a family to choose either type of school for their child. But the system would be improved at a stroke if only academies or only local schools existed. All in all, the evolution of the academy programme appears to have done more harm than good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate the impact of schooling. </span></em></p>There is no evidence that either academies or local schools produce better results with equivalent pupils.Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661992021-08-19T13:39:56Z2021-08-19T13:39:56ZDavid Olufemi Olaleye: erudite virologist, excellent mentor and academic giant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416535/original/file-20210817-27-12elf86.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">David Olufemi Olaleye </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy African Digital Health Library</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>David Olufemi Olaleye, who passed away in <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/07/makinde-mourns-top-ui-virologist-professor-olaleye/">July</a>, made an impact on many lives. He was an excellent teacher and mentor – like a father to many. A defender of the oppressed and a forthright person, who stood for the truth. </p>
<p>He was a researcher par excellence, highly knowledgeable, intelligent and humble. He supervised my master’s project in 1993 and I was his first PhD student. I worked closely with him for almost 30 years and it’s been difficult to accept that he is no more.</p>
<p>Olaleye was born on 21 July 1954 in Ogbomoso, southwest Nigeria. He obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1981, Master’s in Veterinary Science (Diagnostic Pathology) in 1983 and PhD in Virology in 1991, all from the University of Ibadan. He joined the university immediately after the mandatory one year national service in 1982 as Resident Veterinary Officer (Pathology). His journey as a virologist started when he was appointed lecturer in the Department of Virology, College of Medicine of the same university in 1986. He rose through the ranks and became Professor of Virology in 1995. He was appointed <a href="https://www.com.ui.edu.ng/index.php/the-college-of-medicine-university-of-ibadan-mourns-the-loss-of-professor-olufemi-david-olaleye">Consultant Virologist</a>, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria on 11 March 1992 and held this position as specialist adviser until his death.</p>
<p>He was also an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a founding member of the <a href="https://afrehealth.org/about/about-afrehealth">African Forum for Research and Education in Health</a>, a fellow of the <a href="https://www.aasciences.africa/">African Academy of Science</a> and a member of the America Science Honors Society (Sigma Xi).</p>
<p>With 27 years as a professor, he was one of the longest serving professors in the university. He contributed a great deal in this capacity. He held much of our institution’s history and memories. He served at different periods as head of department and dean. He was also on many committees of the university. </p>
<h2>Excellent mentor</h2>
<p>Olaleye’s interest in the career development of young people was outstanding. He had a passion for mentoring. I met him in 1993 when I came to Virology for my master’s programme. That first encounter is well documented in <a href="https://www.ui.edu.ng/gallery/professor-georgina-njideka-odaibo-department-virology-faculty-basic-medical-sciences">my inaugural lecture</a> of 27 June 2019. It instilled in me the spirit and attitude of hard work, commitment and dedication, and the sense of being ever ready. He was the giant who provided the shoulders for me and many others to stand on. </p>
<p>He mentored many who are at the peak of their careers today. We are from diverse specialities, in different parts of the globe. In appreciation of his commitment, dedication and sacrifices made towards our career development, we celebrated him on his 60th birthday in 2014. I’m happy that he heard all the kind things we said about him. </p>
<h2>Brilliant researcher</h2>
<p>He was a great researcher. His research focused on diagnosis, characterisation and molecular epidemiology of various virus-related diseases in Nigeria. He had collaborators from different parts of the world and was principal investigator, co-principal investigator and investigator of many research grants. He attracted one of the highest number of <a href="https://www.com.ui.edu.ng/index.php/prof-olufemi-d-olaleye">grants</a> - in terms of number and dollar value - to the University of Ibadan. He published <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=prVk8WkAAAAJ&hl=en">over 200 papers</a> in reputable international journals.</p>
<p>One of the major breakthroughs of his research was the <a href="https://www.com.ui.edu.ng/index.php/prof-olufemi-d-olaleye">first</a> isolation and characterisation of the 2nd HIV recombinant form (CRF02) during his Fogarty International Research Fellowship programme at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, from September 1990 to September 1992. This virus strain, which he named IbNg (for Ibadan, Nigeria), has been shown to be the <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4939-7101-5_34">predominant strain</a> circulating in West Africa and a good candidate for vaccine development in the region. </p>
<h2>Forthright and selfless</h2>
<p>Olaleye was honest, peace-loving and opposed injustice. Not only to him, but to anyone at all, even those he did not know. He was hardworking and he appreciated hard work. He would not trade merit for sentiments or tribalism. </p>
<p>He was a forthright person, outspoken and truthful. He respected everyone, irrespective of age and gender. He was humility personified.</p>
<p>Olaleye was a system person and a patriotic Nigerian who would always consider the system above his personal interest. He was at the <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/07/makinde-mourns-top-ui-virologist-professor-olaleye/">forefront</a> of Oyo State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state governor attested to this in his tribute. </p>
<p>He invested in capacity development, especially research capacity (infrastructural and human). With grants from the National Institute for Health in the USA, he spearheaded training on research capacity development for faculty and postgraduate students in six universities in Nigeria. </p>
<p>During his tenure as Dean of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences from 2006 to 2010, he established a faculty conference, UniIbadan Conference of Biomedical Research. One of its objectives was to create a platform for young scientists in the country to show case their work, learn new ideas and establish networks required for career growth.</p>
<p>Some 20 years ago, no one wanted to come to the Department of Virology. But today, the story is different. Now people ask, why are you <em>not</em> in virology? It took the efforts, hard work, dedication and commitment of Olaleye to initiate changes to the department. With funds from his grants and support from funders, the department was renovated and equipped. </p>
<p>He successfully led a team of well-motivated academic and technical staff of the department to obtain World Health Organization Africa Region/ SLIPTA laboratory certification and the SANAS laboratory quality accreditation (ISO 15189) in 2018. </p>
<p>Professor David Olufemi Olaleye served his community selflessly and meritoriously. Sustaining his legacy is our assignment now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgina Njideka Odaibo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigeria’s academic community is mourning the death of virology professor and leading researcher, David Olufemi Olaleye.Georgina Njideka Odaibo, Professor of Virology and Specialist Adviser, University College Hospital, Ibadan, University of IbadanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626832021-08-10T10:02:23Z2021-08-10T10:02:23ZHow academy school groups defied their business-focused reputation to help students in lockdown<p>When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/coronavirus-school-colleges-nurseries-england-close-uk-friday">Boris Johnson announced</a> on March 18 2020 that pupils were to stay home until further notice, schools scrambled to adapt at speed. COVID presented a major disruption to pupils’ education and welfare. </p>
<p>National wellbeing surveys have since shown the impact this disruption continues to have on teachers and school leaders, as well as on the academic progress and wellbeing of <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-student-equity-and-inclusion-supporting-vulnerable-students-during-school-closures-and-school-re-openings-d593b5c8/">the pupils</a> themselves. <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Covid-19_Resources/Impact_of_school_closures_KS1_interim_findings_paper_-_Jan_2021.pdf">A study</a> looking at the impact on attainment in the first two school years in England found that year 2 pupils have lost about two months’ worth of learning, for instance. For the disadvantaged pupils among them, that figure rises to five to seven months. </p>
<p>As part of an ongoing research project into education leadership in disruptive times, I led <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">a recent study</a> by the University of Nottingham into how one type of school in particular - those in <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-all-schools-to-turn-into-academies-is-not-educations-biggest-problem-58462">multi-academy trusts</a> – has responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic. </p>
<p>More than 50% of pupils in the English state-education system are now educated in <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-all-schools-to-turn-into-academies-is-not-educations-biggest-problem-58462">academies</a>, which are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/10161371">state-funded schools</a> that operate outside of local authority control (as opposed to community schools, which are still controlled by local authorities). Many academies are now <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2021.1872525">organised into groups</a> of schools overseen by one trust, which is governed by a board of trustees and led by a CEO and a team of senior personnel. </p>
<p>Multi-academy trusts have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/28/accidental-activists-essex-parents-fight-academy-trusts-takeover-of-school">been painted</a> by critics as <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/576240/Multi-academy_trusts_good_practice_guidance_and_expectations_for_growth.pdf">predators</a> that seek to expand by taking over community schools and are merely concerned with financial dividends. <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our findings</a>, however, show that schools that are grouped together in this way have great pastoral potential and a leadership structure that can benefit both staff and students. </p>
<h2>Pandemic performance</h2>
<p>Trusts organise the academies in their ranks into a <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195313191.pdf">corporate structure</a>, which allows individual schools to draw upon a greater number of resources than if they were standalone. <a href="https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/author/daniel-muijs">According to</a> schools inspector Ofsted, leaders of such schools have reported receiving invaluable support from their trust during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Relatively little <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195313191.pdf">systematic research</a> has been conducted into multi-academy trusts. This was why myself and colleagues at the University of Nottingham undertook a small-scale research project, which has since been published as a <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">policy paper</a>, to examine how robustly those across the East and West Midlands responded to the challenges of the pandemic. </p>
<p>A range of data was collected and analysed from CEOs and headteachers from 15 trusts of different sizes. These included both primary and secondary academies, catering to students across the socio-economic spectrum. As far as we know, this is the first independent study of its kind in England.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">We found</a> that when COVID hit, CEOs and their teams introduced trust-wide policies to govern school life. These included health and safety, provision of PPE equipment, risk management and remote-learning platforms, staff welfare and wellbeing, and communication strategies.</p>
<p><a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7066/2/download%3Fid=17101&filename=a-life-in-the-day-of-a-headteacher.pdf">Much has</a> been <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/91049/91049.pdf">written</a> in <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6576/1/headteachers.pdf">recent years</a> about the administrative, financial and bureaucratic duties that come with school headships. Our findings show that the structure of these trusts effectively reduced the burden of responsibility and sheer volume of work that otherwise would likely have fallen on individual headteachers. </p>
<p>From the outset of the pandemic, heads were instead able to focus on making sure their staff could keep teaching and their pupils could keep learning, which is arguably their <a href="https://www.ascl.org.uk/News/Blog/November-2020/The-Headteachers%E2%80%99-Standards-2020-%C2%A0-Rooted-in-what">core purpose</a>. </p>
<h2>Support for pupils and teachers</h2>
<p>Providing pastoral care for pupils as they worked at home during lockdown was <a href="https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/lessons-learned-providing-pastoral-care-during-a-pandemic-covid-19-wellbeing-mental-health-attendance/">a challenge</a> for schools across the board. <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our findings</a> show that being part of a trust made this task easier for staff.</p>
<p>One of the trusts <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">we surveyed</a> partnered with Microsoft to devise an inclusive home-learning strategy and make laptops freely available for every pupil. Another did whatever they could to help families in rural areas to get better broadband. Monitoring systems were established to ensure students were engaging in home learning. And staff conducted home visits to ensure parents were on board too. Any students who did not show up for online classes were contacted immediately. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, teachers and school-based support workers regularly made home visits to pupils and their parents where possible (or weekly calls when not). They delivered everything from trust-subsidised IT devices to food parcels.</p>
<p>The CEOs and headteachers <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">we surveyed</a> all spoke to the importance of sustaining teachers’ morale and wellbeing. Some put helplines in place and gave their staff access to one-to-one counselling. Others provided online continuing professional development for their teachers, as well as creating mental health champions in their schools. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our respondents</a> also emphasised how they had resisted the temptation to narrow the taught curriculum in response to the crisis. They supported their schools in continuing to operate full timetables. </p>
<p>In one instance, this included providing weekly science sessions, modern foreign languages, art, music and drama classes. Another academy created a choral performance of an original composition entitled Hope, which was performed for the whole school. In one large, geographically diverse trust of over 20 academies, many of which served highly disadvantaged communities, a trust-wide policy for outdoor education was developed and implemented.</p>
<p>During this crisis, the trust model served its schools and their communities well. It reduced uncertainties for pupils, parents and staff. It ensured that clear communication channels were quickly established. And it allowed for staff and pupils’ welfare and wellbeing to be comprehensively supported. Crucially, it allowed teaching staff to focus on ensuring the continuation of quality educational opportunities for all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Day receives funding from the University of Nottingham </span></em></p>The pandemic completely disrupted normal school life. Being part of a multi-academies enabled schools to support their pupils, their staff and their communities.Christopher Day, Professor of Education, University of Nottingham, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1561442021-03-19T09:47:33Z2021-03-19T09:47:33ZOyewusi Ibidapo-Obe: Nigerian academic mentor and researcher who made an impact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390440/original/file-20210318-21-1jlmm2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy The Nigerian Academy of Science </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, who passed away <a href="https://punchng.com/breaking-ex-unilag-vc-oye-ibidapo-obe-dies-at-71/">earlier this year</a>, was the former president of the Nigeria Academy of Science. He was also a former vice-chancellor of both the <a href="https://unilag.edu.ng/">University of Lagos</a> and of <a href="https://funai.edu.ng/">Alex Ekwueme Federal University</a>, Ndufu-Alike. </p>
<p>He pioneered the study of stochastic methods in mechanics and the development of computer algorithms, applying Martingale Concepts to the control of nonlinear dynamical systems. That is: how to monitor and control seemingly random events in engineering via computer programmes.</p>
<p>He was also a great mentor who made a notable contribution to deepening the pool of Nigerian academia and professionals.</p>
<p>Ibidapo-Obe was born in Ile-Ife, Osun State, southwest Nigeria, on July 5, 1949. He studied at the University of Lagos from 1968 to 1971, when he was awarded a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. He was the overall best graduating student of his year. </p>
<p>In 1972 he obtained a Master of Mathematics degree in applied mathematics with a minor in computer science. In 1976 he was awarded a doctorate in civil engineering with specialisation in applied mechanics and systems. Both were from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The university also gave him its postdoctoral Distinction Award Fellowship. </p>
<p>He was appointed a professor in 1983. He published over 100 papers in reputable international journals. His <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=00Zo6XUAAAAJ&hl=en">contributions</a> were in the areas of control and information systems. Most of his work was applicable to urban transportation, water resources, biomedics and robotics.</p>
<h2>A great mentor</h2>
<p>Ibidapo-Obe was a great mentor. I first encountered him in 1987 when he taught my undergraduate set in engineering statistics and computing at the University of Lagos. He was the youngest professor then, and noticeably brilliant. He didn’t spend much time in class. But he imparted more than many others via his practical examples while explaining mathematical concepts. </p>
<p>He later became my PhD supervisor when I switched from civil engineering to engineering analysis. Under his leadership, we co-authored numerous research publications. Along with the late Professor Vincent Olunloyo, he founded the Department of Systems Engineering at the University of Lagos.</p>
<p>He arranged international exchanges for scholars like myself. Later he supported our efforts to establish the Nigerian Young Academy in 2010. </p>
<p>His contribution to deepening the pool of Nigerian academia also manifested in his <a href="https://blerf.org/index.php/biography/ibidapo-obe-prof-oyewusi/">chairmanship</a> of the Presidential Brain Drain Panel in 1988. The body was charged with identifying and suggesting solutions to academics leaving Nigeria.</p>
<h2>Passion for Africa</h2>
<p>Ibidapo-Obe was one of the initiators of the first Africa-US conference on manufacturing technology at Abuja in 1993. </p>
<p>In December 2016, he was appointed a member of the <a href="https://www.nepad.org/publication/african-union-commission-appoints-high-level-african-panel-emerging-technologies">African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies </a> by the then chairperson of the African Union Commission. There, his passion for sustaining Africa’s indigenous knowledge was demonstrated vividly. He believed in effectively harnessing local knowledge in addressing continental challenges. </p>
<p>He was a fellow of numerous scientific and professional bodies. This included the World Academy of Sciences, which he served with merit.</p>
<h2>Academic leader</h2>
<p>Ibidapo-Obe was the first managing director of University of Lagos Consult, a consultancy outfit of the University of Lagos. It boosted internally generated revenue and enhanced the town and gown linkages. </p>
<p>Later, when he was vice-chancellor, the university established the <a href="https://educeleb.com/unilag-owns-nigerias-first-university-tv-channel/#:%7E:text=UNILAG%20103.1%20FM%20is%20Nigeria's,was%20licensed%20November%204%2C%202004.">first university radio station</a> in Nigeria. It also introduced an annual research conference and fair, drawing participants from around the world. </p>
<p>He was a chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities. He twice won the best vice-chancellor’s prize (in 2004 and 2005) for the Nigerian University Systems. </p>
<p>The University of Lagos honoured him as Distinguished Professor in 2012. He retired in 2019 as the longest serving academic in the university’s history. He was scheduled to be honoured as Professor Emeritus at the forthcoming convocation ceremonies.</p>
<p>Ibidapo-Obe acknowledged that he would retire without any worry after his department produced <a href="https://punchng.com/my-dad-trained-me-to-be-a-scholar-oyindamola-5-00-unilag-engineering-graduate/">the best graduating student</a> in the university in 2017. </p>
<p>It is also gratifying that the department of systems engineering is now staffed by professors that he trained personally. It won several awards and attained <a href="http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20200727-no-laughing-matter-laughter-signature-as-new-biometrics#.Xx8tgP_uKc4.twitter">global acclaim</a> for research excellence in his lifetime. </p>
<p>Fittingly too, we were able to produce and present a <a href="https://unilag.edu.ng/?p=6052">Festschrift in his honour</a> in February 2020. </p>
<p>Such an excellent scholar and administrator will be sorely missed, though his many legacies live on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olumuyiwa Sunday Asaolu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigeria’s academic community is mourning the death of engineering professor and university administrator, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe.Olumuyiwa Sunday Asaolu, Associate Professor of Systems Engineering, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1236182019-10-21T09:48:30Z2019-10-21T09:48:30ZSchool funding: promised increases are actually real-term cuts – and poorer schools are hit hardest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297852/original/file-20191021-56220-mvlprp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5078%2C3382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School funding doesn't add up. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-primary-school-pupils-their-desks-432876733?src=6H6LL4YKkZA5tMKE2tWFeQ-1-68">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent changes to school funding in England mean that, although there may seem to be more money for education, in general schools will be worse off in 2021 than they have been over the last few years. In the second half of 2019, the government announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-to-learn-funding-allocations-following-14-billion-pledge">a £14 billion increase</a> in funding for schools in England. This is over three years: £2.6 billion in 2020-21, increasing to £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23. </p>
<p>The National Education Union (NEU) <a href="https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/school-cuts-updated-funding-figures">analysed the figures</a>, and despite the cash injection, found “a strong link between deprivation and the scale of government cuts to school funding”. The NEU suggests that, when inflation is taken into account, over 16,000 schools will have less income in April 2020, compared to 2015. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, school spending per pupil in the UK has fallen by about 8% in real terms. According to the <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/R162-Annual-report-on-education-spending-in-england-schools.pdf">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a>, this is the largest decline since at least the 1970s. For historical reasons to do with how funding used to be calculated, these cuts will hit schools in the most disadvantaged areas hard. </p>
<h2>Feeling the effects</h2>
<p>Children in classrooms – particularly in disadvantaged areas – are already feeling the very real effects of funding cuts. Staff are being made redundant, schools have fewer resources, and some schools are even <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-48770759">considering closing</a> for half a day per week to save money. Recent apparent funding increases are in fact real-term cuts – and teachers and parents are rightly concerned. </p>
<p>In April, <a href="https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/state-education-child-poverty">a survey</a> of 8,600 teachers and other school staff conducted by the National Education Union found that 91% of teachers felt that poverty was a factor in limiting children’s capacity to learn. Three-quarters of those surveyed blamed poverty for children falling asleep during lessons, being unable to concentrate and behaving badly. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tough on teachers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-high-school-tutor-standing-by-1195671607?src=6H6LL4YKkZA5tMKE2tWFeQ-1-43">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many teachers in schools face these problems every day, while also having to handle issues that arise as a result of austerity and cutbacks to other services, such as health and social care. As a result, <a href="https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/article-listing/teachers-paying-to-provide-basics-for-pupils.html">nearly half</a> (45%) of teachers surveyed said that they have spent their own money buying basic necessities for pupils in the last year. </p>
<p>Yet current government policy does nothing to level the playing field in terms of structural inequalities: in fact, it reinforces them. </p>
<h2>A complex system</h2>
<p>School funding in England is complicated, partly because there are so many kinds of schools – between 70 and 90, on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2015.1121141">one estimate</a> – and partly because the mechanisms change quite often. It’s also complex because there are so many rules, depending on whether pupils are certain ages, or have special educational needs. </p>
<p>In general, however, people tend to have two key concerns: how much money is going into schools from the government, and whether this money is being distributed fairly. All children in England between the ages of five and 16 are entitled to a free place at a state school. </p>
<p>There were nearly <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812539/Schools_Pupils_and_their_Characteristics_2019_Main_Text.pdf">9m children in English schools</a> in January 2019: <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubacc/1597/1597.pdf">about half</a> of the pupils in state-funded schools in England are in maintained schools, and about half in academies and free schools. </p>
<p>Maintained schools are so called because they are funded and controlled by the local authority. Maintained schools must follow the national curriculum and other rules, for example about teachers’ pay and conditions. </p>
<p>Academies and free schools are state-funded, non-fee-paying schools, which are are independent of local authorities and operate outside of their control. These schools are run by trusts or sponsors such as parents’ groups or businesses. They still get funding from the government, but they can decide how to spend their budget themselves, and they can set their own entrance criteria. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/unleashing-greatness.pdf">2013 report</a> by the Academies Commission stated that it received evidence of some popular schools, including academies, attempting to select and exclude certain pupils; there tends to be a decrease in the proportion of disadvantaged pupils enrolling in academies, and a resultant increase in intakes in maintained schools. </p>
<p>The fact that academies set their own admissions policies “attracted controversy and fuelled concerns that the growth of academies may entrench rather than mitigate social inequalities”, according to the report.</p>
<h2>Fair funding?</h2>
<p>The National Funding Formula (NFF) is the formula that is used to allocate school funding. This is a basic per-pupil funding allocation, and then there are adjustments for things like additional needs. The NFF is used to calculate funding for individual schools, and then the total for an area is calculated and the amount passed on to the local authority.</p>
<p>Councils then set their own formula, in agreement with school forums made up of head teachers, to distribute the cash. The formula must include both a basic local funding unit for each pupil attending the school, and a measure of deprivation. It can also take into consideration some other elements, such as the number of pupils with English as an additional language. </p>
<p>Academy funding comes directly from the Department for Education (DfE); local authorities instruct the DfE how much to pay each academy in their area. This is all quite likely to change, though – and then it is possible that NFF funding will be paid directly to all mainstream schools. </p>
<p>Another important source of funding for schools is the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings">pupil premium</a>, which was introduced by the government in 2011. The amount is allocated based on the number of pupils who are or have been eligible for free school meals, and also those who have parents in the armed forces, and intended to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. </p>
<p>Schools are accountable for how they spend the pupil premium, but they don’t have to spend it just on eligible pupils. So the question remains: why are measures such as pupil premium and the national funding formula failing to level the playing field?</p>
<h2>Rising costs</h2>
<p>In July 2019, the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/969/969.pdf">Education Select Committee</a> reported that it was clear that pupil premium was not always directed at disadvantaged children – rather, it is often used to make up shortfalls in school budgets. As the select committee noted, schools should not have to choose between running their core operations and supporting disadvantaged pupils. The fact that this is happening shows that there is simply not enough money in the school funding system. </p>
<p>School costs have increased across a range of areas, including annual pay award and salary raises, inflation, pensions and special educational needs provision. School funding has not kept pace. Jon Andrews, director for school system and performance at the Education Policy Institute think-tank, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c0530b6e-ee9d-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195">said that</a> the government’s policies on education funding “target money towards schools with less challenging intakes and lower levels of disadvantage – at a time when progress in closing the gap between disadvantage pupils and their peers has stalled”. </p>
<p>Promised increases to funding are likely to be real-term cuts. Schools and children are suffering because of inequitable policies – and this will have far-reaching consequences for the economy and wider society, long into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Lord is affiliated with the Labour party.</span></em></p>Children in classrooms – particularly in disadvantaged areas – are already feeling the very real effects of funding cuts.Janet Lord, Faculty Head of Education, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/879142017-12-13T12:18:15Z2017-12-13T12:18:15ZResearch finds academies still too tied up by exams and inspections to adopt best practices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198577/original/file-20171211-27674-18bsebv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government has been criticised for a lack of accountability for academies</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Academies are back in the news – and not for a good reason. In the same week that parents, children and teachers united in <a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/45780/Parents%2C+children+and+teachers+united+against+academies">strike action</a> against academy schools, new figures show that more than 64 of these schools are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/dec/03/thousand-pupils-trapped-in-zombie-academy-schools">waiting for a new sponsor</a>. These schools are unable to return to local authority control after being abandoned by, or stripped from, the trust that originally managing them.</p>
<p>Department for Education figures obtained through a freedom of information request show that more than 40,000 children are being educated in these so-called “zombie schools”. This comes at a time when <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/lord-agnew-large-pay-rises-academy-chiefs-unreasonable">large pay rises for academy chiefs</a> have been dubbed “unreasonable” by academies minister Lord Agnew. Trusts that are paying <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/academies-given-less-two-weeks-justify-high-salaries">leaders more than £150,000 have been asked to explain</a> their “rationale” to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.</p>
<p>Academies were first introduced by the Labour government in the early 2000s. The idea was to free schools from the constraints of local authority control. It was argued this would provide more opportunities for innovation – enabling schools to break the link between poverty and low educational achievement. There was also an assumption it would act as a stimulus for system-wide improvement. But almost 20 years on there is little evidence of these early promises bearing fruit. </p>
<h2>An inside view</h2>
<p>Our own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Inside-the-Autonomous-School-Making-Sense-of-a-Global-Educational-Trend/Salokangas-Ainscow/p/book/9781138215412">new research</a> charts the highs and lows of one of the early English academies. During a 10-year study we saw how an academy replaced a school that was considered a failure – and how it initially became successful. </p>
<p>The school we focus on in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Inside-the-Autonomous-School-Making-Sense-of-a-Global-Educational-Trend/Salokangas-Ainscow/p/book/9781138215412">our new book</a> was seen as a flagship of one of the larger academy groups – known as “chains” or, more recently, multi-academy trusts. In particular, after becoming an academy it became characterised by a greater sense of optimism as well as a far safer working environment and much higher expectations. </p>
<p>This was reflected in the school’s massively improved results in national examinations and in an inspection report that defined the school as being “outstanding”. Sadly, this progress was not maintained and the school slipped back – to be ruled by Ofsted as “requires improvement”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198576/original/file-20171211-27689-nlb01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Academies receive their funding directly from the government, rather than through local authorities like other state-funded schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our research, we found the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401455/RR366_-_research_report_academy_autonomy.pdf">autonomy that academies are granted</a> mainly leads to administrative changes rather than new approaches to teaching. This is largely because acadamies’ performance are measured against the same <a href="http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN07091">national performance indicators as other schools</a> – so examinations and inspections set a tight frame for their teaching practices – encouraging sponsoring organisations to centralise much of the decision making.</p>
<p>Our findings suggest this erosion of teacher choice may go some way to explain why a school that has been “turned around”, can quickly go back into decline. This is because once teachers’ freedom to make choices about the way they teach has gone, a school is much less able to deal with the difficulties it faces. </p>
<h2>Increased segregation</h2>
<p>There are also concerns about the impact academies are having on segregation levels in the UK – with students from varied socioeconomic, <a href="http://cprtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Mansell-report-160527.pdf">cultural and religious backgrounds</a> increasingly separated within the school system. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198588/original/file-20171211-27677-g5b287.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Competition between schools has led many academies to blindly focus on exam results.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other countries that have adopted the idea of school autonomy, we also found evidence of a worrying trend towards greater segregation. In the US for example, <a href="https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/kahlenberg.pdf">Albert Shanker</a>, an early advocate of charter schools (which are similar to academies) anticipated these schools would allow teachers to become more involved in decision making. </p>
<p>He also hoped this would help combat community segregation by bringing together children from different backgrounds. But recent reports indicate charter schools have not <a href="https://apnews.com/e9c25534dfd44851a5e56bd57454b4f5">solved the problem of segregation</a>. </p>
<h2>Making school autonomy work</h2>
<p>Despite these worrying trends, greater freedom for schools still makes sense – particularly if it provides opportunities for teachers to work together to develop more effective practices. </p>
<p>To make school autonomy work then, there needs to be a rethink of national accountability systems – as well as the way school inspections function. More resources must also be focused on teachers’ professional development. This is crucial, because well-supported staff are in the best position to respond to the varied needs of their students. </p>
<p>Incentives must also be provided to encourage greater collaboration within and between schools, so that successful practices are made available to more students. This emphasis on collaboration should also move well beyond the school gate, so that schools can draw on the energy and resources that exist within families and local communities. This will help to make schools truly representative of their students and also provide more opportunity for innovation – which should be the ultimate goal of the academy system in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More bad news for academies as new findings show deepening divisions within English education system.Mel Ainscow, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of ManchesterMaija Salokangas, Assistant Professor of Education, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773352017-05-16T16:14:30Z2017-05-16T16:14:30ZSouth Africa’s public-private school plans require healthy scepticism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168717/original/file-20170510-28069-qi7s34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa's public schools have problems, but charter schools and academies can't fix everything.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Lucht/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public school systems across Africa are struggling. Some people believe that public-private partnerships are the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21717379-war-scorched-state-where-almost-nothing-works-tries-charter-schools-liberias">solution</a> to fixing ailing government education systems.</p>
<p>Public-private partnerships (PPPs) first took root in the form of charter schools in the US, and academies in the UK, arrangements where private entities take over the management of public schools, sometimes for profit, sometimes not. Such schools have now also sprung up in Liberia and Uganda. Now officials in the Western Cape province are working to explore the model in South Africa: in 2015, five fee-free schools were set up as pilot “<a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/news/how-collaboration-can-transform-under-performing-schools">Collaboration Schools</a>”. </p>
<p>The Western Cape Education Department hosted an information session in February 2017 to extol the virtues of PPPs to potential operating partners and philanthropic funders, with a view to expanding the project to 50 schools in the next few years.</p>
<p>Despite the project being designated a pilot, there’s already <a href="https://www.greengazette.co.za/pages/provincial-gazette-for-western-cape-7666-of-25-august-2016_20160825-WCP-07666-00012">draft legislation</a> that proposes giving the provincial education minister powers to reclassify any school as a Collaboration school. </p>
<p>It’s irrefutable that there are huge challenges in South Africa’s public schools. The question is whether using PPPs is the correct way to address them. A great deal of research evidence suggests that this approach should be treated with caution.</p>
<h2>An internationally contentious system</h2>
<p>The model that’s being proposed in the Western Cape is based on US charter schools and UK academies. Ark, one of the major organisations backing academies in the UK, and also a partner of the controversial Bridge schools, is acting as an advisor to guide the Western Cape’s arrangements. </p>
<p>But Bridge schools in Uganda have been ordered by the country’s courts to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/04/judge-orders-closure-low-cost-bridge-international-academies-uganda">shut down</a> because of poor infrastructural conditions and under-qualified teachers. In April 2017 several groups <a href="http://www.aft.org/news/aft-leads-protest-against-world-bank-and-bridge-academies-0">protested against</a> the World Bank’s decision to advocate for Bridge Schools in Africa.</p>
<p>PPP schooling arrangements are <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-would-only-make-our-school-systems-problems-worse-46814">controversial</a> and give rise to several concerns. </p>
<p>The first is whether public schooling, should be directed and influenced so heavily by private parties. These parties have no public mandate that governs their actions. We know, too, that <a href="https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/InthePublicInterest_Inequality_Sec5_Sept2016.pdf">private provision of what used to be public services often exacerbates inequality</a> – be it in the health care space or basic utilities. There’s no reason to believe the education space will be different.</p>
<p>Secondly, some (but not all) Charter operators enter the schooling arena because they perceive education as a new market for profit generation. Some scholars have questioned whether profit should be made in sectors such as <a href="https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/bioethics/resources/a-healthy-bottom-line-profits-or-people/">health</a> and <a href="http://www.newfoundations.com/ETHICPROP/KellyF06.html">education</a>. These areas are critical to social development and directly related to basic fundamental human rights.</p>
<h2>The argument closer to home</h2>
<p>The proponents of PPPs offer three main arguments in support of the model being deployed in fee-free schools. </p>
<p>Firstly, they say schools are given more flexibility to govern and administrate according to pupils’ specific needs. They also say this model offers greater “accountability” by schools to government and parents, based primarily on something they term “Outcomes Based Assessment”. And finally, these schools, which may not legally charge fees and struggle to raise alternative funds, benefit from much needed extra resources supplied by the collaboration or philanthropic partner. </p>
<p>All these changes are alleged to offer improved teaching and learning – and to do so more efficiently than is currently the case.</p>
<p>Research evidence has contradicted these claims. A recent <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904816681525?journalCode=epxa">large-scale study</a> compared state district, non-profit charter and for-profit charter schools across multiple states in the US. They showed learning outcomes vary broadly, with no conclusive evidence of charters of either type performing better than their public counterparts. </p>
<p>Trends identified in the same study showed that collaboration arrangements in school management resulted on average in a) more money per pupil being paid for administrative and management costs and b) less money per pupil being paid on instructional costs – that is, teaching and learning.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that, as a general trend, both for- and non-profit charters kept teacher salaries low by relying on younger, less experienced staff. They also experienced high staff turnover. Separate research has found that rapid teaching staff turnover correlates <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0002831212463813">negatively and significantly</a> with lower learning outcomes.</p>
<p>Such findings directly contradict the premise of efficiency that’s used to justify public-private partnerships as being superior to purely public schools.</p>
<p>If, in fact, instructional costs go down and management costs concomitantly go up, such arrangements could be viewed instead as a mechanism whereby private “managers” infiltrate struggling public schools and inadvertently redirect teaching salary funds towards themselves. This might not be the explicit intention, but it’s the overall net effect. </p>
<p>In the South Africa case, the PPP arrangement has tried to distance itself from the charter school model by insisting that PPP schools remain absolutely public. But there’s a real long-term risk of a similar shift in salary allocation like the US case, with substantial sums at play. The largest part of South Africa’s education budget, divided through equitable shares to the country’s nine provinces, goes to salaries. This is around <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2015/05/03/Overpaid-army-of-civil-servants-sucking-SA-dry1">80% of more than R200 billion</a>. </p>
<p>As has been the case in charter schools and academies, teachers in PPP schools will most likely experience <a href="https://www.usc.edu/dept/education/cegov/focus/charter-schools/publications/journals/Working%20Conditions%20in%20Charter%20Schools%20-%20What%27s%20the%20Appeal%20fo.pdf">decreased job security</a> under the auspices of “accountability” as measured by standardised test performance. Such pressures to pin student test scores on teachers ignore the fact that many of <a href="http://education.jhu.edu/coleman/prospectus">the factors</a> which determine a child’s school performance originate in the home, not the classroom. </p>
<p>While some PPP arrangements justify decreased job security with the claim they <a href="http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba285">pay more</a> at comparative experience levels than their public counterparts, this obfuscates the youthful staffing that automatically decreases overall salary costs. The “<a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2015/04/27/charter_schools_and_churn_and_burn_how_they_re_trying_to_hold_on_to_teachers.html">churn and burn</a>” effect ensures teachers rarely stay at the school long enough to command a senior salary. </p>
<h2>Caution needed</h2>
<p>There’s a growing consensus that South Africa’s poorest performing schools <a href="http://www.groundup.org.za/article/school-funding-what-south-africa-can-learn-world/">are still under-funded</a>. So it seems pragmatic to source extra resources from NGOs, philanthropists and private operators, especially in light of a lean and over-stretched public fiscus.</p>
<p>But South Africa should carefully heed the lessons learnt from charter arrangements in the US and the current Bridge debacle in Uganda. Healthy scepticism is a good idea. While the project’s individual proponents may be well-intentioned, there’s a real risk of such models laying the country’s public education coffers vulnerable to capture by private interests.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect two changes. Initially it was stated schools governed according to private-public partnerships existed in Kenya. This is not the case. The statement “Many (but not all) Charter operators enter the schooling arena because they perceive education as a new market for profit generation” has been altered to read “some” after it was pointed out that the majority of such schools in the US and UK are not-for-profit.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Muller works with a multi-university think group that includes the School of Education at the University of Cape Town, the Centre for International Teacher Development at CPUT, and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Rhodes University. The group focuses on critical public scholarship about public and private schooling models and their implications. </span></em></p>There are huge challenges in South Africa’s public schools. The question is whether using public-private partnerships is the correct way to address them.Sara Black, Researcher: Teacher Development and Sociology of Education, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/623702016-07-14T14:44:26Z2016-07-14T14:44:26ZTime for an honest debate about grammar schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130443/original/image-20160713-12386-1meowwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grammar schools: moving with the times. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">michaeljung/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With Theresa May as the new prime minister at the helm of the Conservatives, speculation is already mounting about whether her <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2824689/First-grammar-school-generation-Theresa-sends-strong-message-backing-plans-create-satellite-selective-school-constituency.html">support for a new academically selective grammar school</a> in her own constituency will translate into national educational policy. This will be a big question for her newly appointed secretary of state for education, Justine Greening. </p>
<p>The debate between those who support the reintroduction of grammar schools and those who would like them abolished is a longstanding one with no foreseeable end in sight. In 1998 the Labour prime minister Tony Blair attempted to draw a line under the issue by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34538222">preventing the creation</a> of any new selective schools while allowing for the maintenance of existing grammar schools in England. Before becoming prime minister, David Cameron dismissed Tory MPs angry at his party’s withdrawal of support for grammar schools by calling the debate “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6658613.stm">entirely pointless</a>”. </p>
<p>This is an issue that continues to resurface and recently became even more pressing with the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34535778">government’s decision in October 2015</a> to allow a school in Tonbridge, Kent, to open up an annexe in Sevenoaks, ten miles away. This decision has led to the very real possibility of existing grammar schools applying for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/15/grammar-school-decision-likely-to-spur-more-bids-for-satellite-developments">similar expansions</a>. Whether or not more will be given permission to do so in the years ahead, many existing grammar schools are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/15/grammar-school-decision-likely-to-spur-more-bids-for-satellite-developments">currently expanding their intakes</a>.</p>
<p>This latest resurgence of the debate is playing out in an educational landscape which has been radically reformed since 2010. Old arguments about what type of school the government should favour have little traction or meaning in an education system deliberately set up around the principles of autonomy, diversity and choice. Meanwhile, much of the debate continues to ignore and distort the bodies of evidence on crucial issues such as the effectiveness of selection, fair access and social mobility.</p>
<p>It is against this backdrop that we completed a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2016.1184132">recent review</a> looking at how reforms to the education system affect the grammar school debate and examined the evidence underpinning arguments on both sides.</p>
<h2>Old debates, new system</h2>
<p>Grammar schools have been re-positioning themselves within the newly-reformed landscape. Notably, 85% of grammar schools have now become academies – giving them more autonomy. Turning a grammar school into an academy is now literally a <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/exclusive-grammar-schools-given-tick-box-application-form-to-open-new-sites/">tick-box exercise</a>. Adopting a legal status that ostensibly keeps the state at arms-length while granting autonomy over curriculum and admissions policies has had a strong appeal for grammar schools.</p>
<p>New potential roles for grammar schools have also opened up. We are seeing the emergence of new structures and forms of collaboration, such as multi-academy trusts, federations and other partnerships. Supporters argue that grammar schools can play a positive role within these new structures, offering leadership within the system. Notable examples include the King Edward VI foundation in Birmingham <a href="http://www.schoolsofkingedwardvi.co.uk/school/king-edward-vi-sheldon-heath-academy/">which in 2010 took over</a> the poorly-performing Sheldon Heath Community Arts College. There are also current <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/king-edward-vi-foundation-school-considers-becoming-multi-academy-trust-after-successfully-taking-a6872356.html">proposals</a> for the foundation to become a multi-academy trust.</p>
<p>The Cameron government’s <a href="https://goo.gl/4ZvisH">quasi-market</a> approach to making education policy – and that of New Labour before him – has favoured looser and often overlapping structures that allow for a diversity of provision and responsiveness to demand. The central focus is on standards rather than a state-approved blueprint for all schools. This involves intervention where standards are low and expansion where standards are high and there is demand for places. </p>
<p>This policy approach neither supports nor opposes grammar schools – it tries to sidestep the question entirely, leaving many concerns about fair access and the impact of academic selection unanswered.</p>
<h2>Fair access</h2>
<p>A disproportionately small number of disadvantaged pupils attend grammar schools. Contrary to the claims of grammar school proponents, the <a href="https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=97485&p=0">evidence</a> shows that these disparities in intake are not entirely accounted for by the fact that grammar schools are located in more affluent areas nor by their high-attaining intake.</p>
<p>Yet grammar schools (and academies) are in a position to use their control over admissions policies and application procedures to seek <a href="https://theconversation.com/english-grammar-schools-try-to-shake-off-middle-class-bias-23806">more balanced intakes</a> and fairer access should they wish to do so. Whether or not they have the ability or inclination remains to be seen.</p>
<p>The issue of school admissions is a good example of where the public debate has failed to keep pace with the realities of the system. <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/evidence-effects-selective-educational-systems/">Previous research</a> by the Sutton Trust found that some of the most socially selective schools in the country are comprehensive schools, at least in name.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/11/grammar-schools-tory-rightwinger-selection">Pitting comprehensive schools against grammar schools</a>, therefore, only loosely grasps the issue of social selectivity. With its emphasis on school types this distracts from the larger issue: the content of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/389388/School_Admissions_Code_2014_-_19_Dec.pdf">school admissions code</a> and how to ensure compliance with it. If more balanced school intakes are desired, the focus should be on rules around admissions and permissible over-subscription criteria for all schools.</p>
<h2>What are grammar schools the answer to?</h2>
<p>Much of the current debate is predicated on the superior effectiveness of grammar schools. But the evidence <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2016.1184132">we have reviewed</a> suggests that <a href="https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=97485&p=0">the academic benefit</a> of attending a grammar school is relatively small. Even these estimates are likely to be inflated by differences in intake that are not taken into account in the statistics.</p>
<p>Evidence on selection, both as <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/ces/ifodic/v7y2009i1p26-34.html">part of the education system</a> itself and <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/setting-or-streaming/">within schools</a> through setting or streaming, suggest there is little overall benefit to children’s academic achievement. The overall effect is, at best, zero-sum and most likely negative, with higher-attaining pupils benefiting at the expense of lower-attaining pupils, leading to an <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-do-grammar-schools-boost-social-mobility-28121">increase in inequality</a>. The <a href="http://www.nosacredcows.co.uk/blog/2867/thoughts_on_grammar_schools.html">question</a> remains whether that is a price worth paying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Are grammar schools a force for good in England’s reformed education system?Tom Perry, Research Fellow and Lecturer, University of BirminghamRebecca Morris, Lecturer in Secondary English Education/Research Associate, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584622016-04-29T09:30:03Z2016-04-29T09:30:03ZForcing all schools to turn into academies is not education’s biggest problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120606/original/image-20160428-28040-1e8pl0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Out of the classroom and onto the streets. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/theweeklybull/26167936335/sizes/l">The Weekly Bull/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nicky Morgan faced a grilling from MPs on the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/nicky-morgan-education-white-paper-15-16/">House of Commons Education Select Committee</a> on April 27 to answer questions – some positive and intended to be helpful and some hostile – about the government’s recent education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdf">white paper</a>. The secretary of state for education had faced an earlier <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/tory-backbenchers-ask-nicky-morgan-look-again-academisation-plans">bruising Commons encounter</a> with backbenchers, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35883922">teacher demonstrations</a> against compulsory academisation. </p>
<p>The greatest opposition to the white paper is to its proposal for the compulsory conversion of all schools in England to academy status by 2022. Some, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-a-u-turn-on-academies-do-to-conservative-education-policy-58380">members of the Conservative party</a>, are asking for a reversal of the compulsory element of the programme. Others, such as those on the demonstration, just want it reversed.</p>
<p>But it is worth considering just how significant compulsory conversion is and whether it is the most important matter facing English schools.</p>
<h2>No one model</h2>
<p>I have <a href="http://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/schools-and-schooling/equity-trust-and-the-self-improving-schools-system/">argued elsewhere</a> that six years after the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/32/contents">2010 Academies Act</a> there is no longer one set of arrangements – successful or otherwise – that constitutes “the academies model”. Despite this, Morgan continued to refer to such a model in front of the select committee – and much sterile discussion followed. </p>
<p>According to Morgan, there are already 973 Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), non-profit organisations which run groups of academies. The vast majority have fewer than ten schools, but this can vary enormously.</p>
<p>Different MATs contain different combinations of primary and secondary schools, and run schools with a different geographical spread. The trusts also vary in the amount of autonomy they give to schools. And that’s leaving aside the free-standing academies, some of which the white paper said would remain outside a trust for now. </p>
<p>Some trusts, including ones where I have conducted interviews, are centrally managed. This means there is one governing board in charge of all the trust’s schools, the performance of principals at each school is managed centrally by an executive team, and staff are moved between schools, often to their benefit. </p>
<p>Other MATs pride themselves on retaining the individuality of their schools. Each of the schools in these trusts retains its local governing body and the central board just oversees strategy and the performance of the central team where there is one. </p>
<p>Some academies I have visited, including convertor academies (those good or outstanding schools choosing to convert from 2010 onwards) in loose local arrangements, have not changed at all since conversion. They have the same governors, name and continuing commitment to the communities they serve. The people who I have encountered leading and teaching in these schools have exactly the same passions and commitment to children as those in schools still maintained and run by local authorities. </p>
<h2>Democratic deficit</h2>
<p>There are good reasons to oppose academy status, such as the lack of local democratic oversight that comes with the system change. Some chains are remote, with their offices further away than the local council HQ, making local input from parents and the community potentially harder – though not impossible. And academisation only “works” if it enables good leadership with a focus on what is important – good teaching leading to good outcomes for children.</p>
<p>But in reality, this lack of any real oversight is also the case now for maintained schools. The old local authority system (never really one of “supervision”) is passing away, through a combination of budget cuts, strategic choice by local authorities and now central direction. If schools need support, they look to other schools in their networks, local MATs or more widely still. </p>
<p>So if the critics of the white paper have their way and the government decides not to force all schools to become academies, schools that remain maintained and run by a local authority would face an uncertain future. They will be isolated with diminishing support and disappearing local arrangements. </p>
<p>Things are moving very rapidly now. Many schools – who had waited to see the result of the election last year – resumed discussions about becoming academies and forming MATs before the end of the 2015 summer term. </p>
<h2>The bigger question: reducing inequality</h2>
<p>But MPs on the select committee also asked a really significant question of Morgan: how can academy conversion help schools that are already good or outstanding? The answer has to be the same: only in what it enables them to do. And that includes addressing a much more fundamental problem: how low attainment remains inextricably linked <a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/education-policy/research-and-policy-in-education/">“to life chances in England”</a> and remains a principal mechanism for the transmission of poverty between <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/funding-for-disadvantaged-pupils/">generations</a>.</p>
<p>There have been successes in reducing attainment gaps, but the era of nationally imposed education strategies and solutions is also slowly being superseded by moves towards a self-improving schools system that holds promise for <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03054985.2014.979014">reducing such inequity</a>. The deeper reflection required on what happens in classrooms – and how learning is sometimes organised in ways that limit children’s potential – depends on much more routine relations of mutual trust between schools, heads and teachers. And the government and parents must trust them more, too – reducing external burdens that get in the way of their passions and commitment. </p>
<p>This includes Ofsted – our education should rely less on data from the schools inspectorate. There have already been some timely reductions in inspection requirements for good schools and they have earned our trust. More are to come. The white paper proposed, for example, that schools with new heads or those implementing improvement plans will face no inspections for three years. </p>
<p>All of this goes some of the way towards achieving what the head of a MAT said to me recently: that we should be “avoiding quick fixes”. Instead, how all schools – including good and outstanding ones – address inequity must be our key focus.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Riddell has received funding from the British Academy.</span></em></p>Dealing with inequality should be the main priority.Richard Riddell, Senior lecturer, Education Studies, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/581792016-04-28T11:31:04Z2016-04-28T11:31:04ZFuture of religious education under threat from drive to make all schools academies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120375/original/image-20160427-30967-p620eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The rules for schools could change. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Skalny/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Religious education is no stranger to controversy. Determining which religions should be studied, and how and why, is often a fraught process, particularly where the teaching of certain religious beliefs over others is concerned, or if children are being indoctrinated into a particular faith. </p>
<p>Despite the importance of making sure young people today have a good level of <a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-need-to-do-more-to-improve-childrens-religious-literacy-51926">religious literacy</a>, the recent Department for Education white paper, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere">Educational Excellence Everywhere</a>, makes no reference to religious education (RE). But its proposal that every school in England should become an academy by 2022 has important ramifications for the subject. </p>
<p>Since 1944, local education authorities (LEAs) have been required to produce agreed syllabuses for RE in state-maintained schools without a religious affiliation. These are agreed unanimously by representatives of different religious persuasions, alongside teacher associations and the LEA. Since 1988, LEAs have also been required to establish Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACRE) to advise the local authority on matters connected with RE.</p>
<p>But academies and free schools, whether with a religious affiliation or not, do not currently have to follow an LEA-agreed syllabus for RE. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many such schools are continuing to do so, even though there is no statutory requirement. It is possible, however, for other schools to exploit the available freedom and develop their own syllabuses. In such cases, we would not know what aims, methods and content for RE each school is selecting for its lessons. This presents a risk.</p>
<p>The white paper calls for the establishment of a clearly defined role for local government in education more generally, but says nothing about RE. This is a glaring omission.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120377/original/image-20160427-30982-10ax2lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still at the centre of British life?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John D F/www.flickr.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Religious powerbroking</h2>
<p>For more than 150 years, the position of religion in publicly-funded schools has been a matter of profound controversy – so much so that a dual system of church and state schools emerged. When the 1902 Education Act created LEAs and gave them responsibility for funding church schools through local rates, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Shifting_Alliances.html?id=F-qeAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">it met with opposition</a> from non-conformists and secularists. This was vociferous enough to dissuade the government from attempting significant educational reform for the next 40 years.</p>
<p>Later, in the period between the two world wars, when LEAs sought to establish secondary schools, they met with opposition from Anglicans who were <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Church_and_state_in_English_education_18.html?id=yCY1kJyWZBUC&redir_esc=y">worried about</a> the RE that secondary school pupils would receive. In certain areas of the country, the support of Anglicans was obtained once they had been given the opportunity – alongside non-conformists, teachers and local councillors – to determine the RE syllabus provided in LEA primary and secondary schools. So locally agreed syllabuses emerged as a political means of managing religious sectarianism to enable educational reform to occur.</p>
<p>This was never more appreciated than in World War II, when the population <a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780754666929">became galvanised</a> around a vision of social, educational and spiritual progress. It was in <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10036/16633">this context</a> – in fear of communism, fascism and Nazism abroad – that daily collective worship and weekly RE lessons were made statutory in LEA schools in the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/7-8/31/contents/enacted">1944 Education Act</a>. </p>
<p>A lot has changed since that act was passed. England <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760X.2011.620013#.VyDqRD-PBWc">has experienced</a> religious pluralisation and a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760X.2012.761733#.VyHKqj-PBWc">de-Christianisation of society</a>. At the same time, there has been a centralisation of educational policy, devolution of powers to schools and the establishment of non-Christian faith schools.</p>
<p>But there have also been continuities in the form of the established Church and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10770425/David-Cameron-says-Christians-should-be-more-evangelical.html">political rhetoric</a> around “Christian Britain”. Nor has religious controversy disappeared, especially around the powder keg of religion in schools – as the allegations over extremist teaching at schools in Birmingham in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/trojan-horse">Trojan Horse affair</a> illustrated. So it is still vital that politicians negotiate religious differences with caution and careful consideration.</p>
<h2>Risk of alienating faith groups</h2>
<p>If agreed syllabuses and SACRE are now to be replaced by a new statutory structure for determining the RE curriculum, then those responsible for planning these new arrangements will have to show the same political nous and fervour as the architects of the 1944 Education Act. If no such statutory structures are put in place – to provide checks and balances for the RE curriculum – then there is a risk that individual schools might ignite religious controversy in the way they teach the subject. </p>
<p>Even if religious groups no longer continue to have a statutory voice in determining the RE curriculum, it is probably wise to develop a new local or national mechanism. Through this, religious and other communities with a vested interest in the subject could enter into dialogue with those with responsibility for determining the subject’s aims, methods and content. </p>
<p>The alternative is to disenfranchise and marginalise faith communities, creating less mutual understanding and more disagreement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Freathy has received funding from a variety of organisations: The British Academy; History of Education Society (UK); Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; Culham St Gabriel’s Trust; Westhill Endowment Trust; Bible Society England and Wales; All Saints Educational Trust; Hockerill Educational Trust; Sarum St Michael Educational Charity; and The Challenger Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen G. Parker has received funding from the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, Westhill Endowment Trust, St. Peter's Saltley Trust, Culham St Gabriel's Trust. </span></em></p>Local education authorities have mediated the RE syllabus for decades. Now, there might be a free-for-all.Rob Freathy, Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research and Deputy Director of the University of Exeter Doctoral College, University of ExeterStephen G. Parker, Professor of the History of Religion and Education, University of WorcesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/583802016-04-27T09:38:02Z2016-04-27T09:38:02ZWhat the U-turn on academies means for Conservative education policy<p>The secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-to-spread-educational-excellence-everywhere-announced">has backed down</a> on plans to force all schools in England to become academies by 2022, outlined in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-raft-of-education-reforms-mean-for-englands-schools-56383">recent education white paper</a>. </p>
<p>Morgan said the government had “listened to feedback from MPs, teachers, school leaders and parents” and concluded “that it is not necessary to bring legislation to bring about blanket conversion of all schools to achieve this goal.” </p>
<p>These are testing times for the government’s education policy and the furore caused by the plans among Conservative supporters and party members is likely to have long-lasting repercussions. </p>
<p>Despite politicians’ claims to the contrary, education policy has rarely been based or even informed by evidence. Many have expressed concerns about the <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/IMPB02/IMPB02.pdf">lack of clear evidence</a> that forcing schools, especially primaries, to become academies will have a positive impact on children’s learning. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/7799763/NEWS">A recent report sponsored by the Local Government Association</a> suggested that many local authority schools outperform academies. This prompted a remarkably ill-tempered response <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/25/local-authority-schools-outperform-academies-research-suggests">from the Department for Education</a>, which suggested that they are feeling the pressure. </p>
<p>Others have <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/its-all-about-the-money-the-real-reason-behind-forced-academisation/">speculated about why the government has persisted</a> with such an unpopular and controversial policy. </p>
<h2>Unprecedented criticism from within</h2>
<p>Conservative school policies since the Thatcher administrations of the 1980s have had a number of familiar strands. <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/education-policy/book235688">Among the most consistent</a> have been increasing competition between schools, increasing choice for parents and students, and decreasing the power of local authorities, even in the face of popular opposition.</p>
<p>But it is difficult to think of education policies which have engendered the kind of grassroots revolt among Conservative supporters that the forced academisation plan has brought about. </p>
<p>John Patten, John Major’s education secretary between 1992 and 1994, described himself as “having tried to restore power to the centre, wresting it back from Local Education Authorities and redistributing it to schools”. He did this through the grant-maintained school policy, which was in many ways <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10824069">the forerunner of the current academy programme</a>. </p>
<p>That government did not come anywhere near meeting his target of making all schools grant-maintained by 1997. The introduction of a voucher scheme, which the Conservative party had regarded as unworkable in the 1980s, suffered a similar fate when it was <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/councils-pressure-ministers-to-drop-nursery-voucher-scheme-1357165.html">controversially applied to nurseries</a> in 1996 in the form of vouchers for parents of four-year-olds to use in providers of their choice. </p>
<p>Although some councils rebelled against the voucher scheme, both policies largely retained party support even as the Major government declined. The election of the New Labour government in 1997 <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/456398.stm">ended both initiatives</a>. </p>
<h2>Implications for Tory education policy</h2>
<p>Conservative education policies since 2010 have explicitly shifted power from local authorities to the political centre while at the same time portraying this as supporting localism and increasing school autonomy. This has been <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/we-need-directors-schools-standards-make-academies-work-all">widely criticised by opponents for some time</a>. </p>
<p>The difference now is that for the first time it is Conservative MPs and councillors who are finding it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/23/tory-mps-call-for-academies-plan-dropped-from-queens-speech">impossible to reconcile “one size fits all” academisation</a> with the rhetoric of increased choice and what Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has called “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/04/25/academies-plan-could-see-tory-defeat-as-opposition-grows/">devolution in its purest form</a>”. </p>
<p>When Nicky Morgan replaced Michael Gove as secretary of state for education in 2014, it was widely reported that her task was to <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2014/09/without-michael-gove-the-tories-have-no-moral-mission-on-education/">neutralise his “toxic legacy”</a>. At the same time, she continued to implement and extend key policies such as converting schools to academies and tackling so-called “<a href="https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/2015/05/comment-what-is-a-coasting-school/">coasting schools</a>”. </p>
<p>The crisis over academies has taken place against a backdrop of the government’s scrapping of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reception-baseline-comparability-study-published">baseline testing</a> for reception children and the National Audit Office’s criticism of the Department for Education’s “<a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/comptroller-and-auditor-generals-report-on-the-department-for-educations-financial-statements-2014-15/">inability to provide a clear view of academy trusts’ spending</a>”.</p>
<p>Amid <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36127447">reports</a> that some local authorities may be allowed to get involved in running multi-academy trusts – Morgan <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/morgan-dodges-academies-u-turn-questions/">told parliament</a> on April 25 that it would be “talented officers” rather than authorities themselves that are involved. But this has not stopped questions from Conservative councillors and supporters about why lots of government money is being spent on complex structural alterations which result in little change. </p>
<p>Academisation has been the central tenet of recent Conservative school policy. Once it begins to be questioned, the foundations of Conservative education policy for over 30 years may start to crumble. In February 2015, David Cameron spoke characteristically intemperately of “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11383017/Massive-expansion-of-academy-programme-to-be-announced-by-Prime-Minister.html">waging an all-out war on mediocrity</a>” in schools. As the policy failures mount up, he may now be regretting his choice of language.</p>
<p>_This article was updated on May 7 to reflect the fact that the government has backed down on plans to force all schools to become academies. _</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jopling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plans to turn all schools into academies by 2022 have caused a crisis within the party.Michael Jopling, Professor in Education, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/572922016-04-08T13:17:18Z2016-04-08T13:17:18ZTrue cost of plan to turn all schools into academies remains opaque<p>In its recently published <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere">white paper on education</a>, the government wants to ensure that “discredited ideas unsupported by firm evidence are not promoted”. Yet the Conservatives – who like to think of themselves as “the party of choice” – plan to force all schools to become academies by 2022. The secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/nicky-morgan-no-reverse-gear-academisation">said</a> the academies policy has “no reverse gear”. </p>
<p>This has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/26/national-union-of-teachers-backs-ballot-on-strike-action-brighton">invoked a strike ballot</a> by the National Union of Teachers, condemnation by Labour and even some <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/24/conservative-councillors-angry-academy-plans-nicky-morgan">Conservative councillors</a>. </p>
<p>Over the last five years, <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-03-16/31449/">the direct cost</a> to the Department for Education (DfE) of conversions to academy status has been about £320m for 4,897 schools – about £66,000 per school. </p>
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<p>With 16,800 schools, including special schools and pupil referral units, to be converted to academy status – the <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/news/73401/labour-claims-academies-plan-will-cost-%C2%A313bn">Labour party estimates</a> that the total conversion cost to the DfE will be £1.1bn, plus another £200m for estimated legal costs for local authorities. The government <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/education-35945542">contests these figures</a> and claims that around £600m has been allocated for academy conversion and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-way-schools-are-funded-in-england-is-ripe-for-reform-heres-why-55909">new formula</a> for allocating schools funding – but it is unclear exactly how the money is to be split between these two items. </p>
<h2>Thousands of conversions</h2>
<p>By March 2016, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">DfE data showed</a> that 2,949 primaries (17% of total state-funded schools) and 2,007 secondaries were academies – so the Labour Party’s scaling up of the future direct costs of converting the remainder is a useful estimate. But it is only a ballpark figure. </p>
<p>There <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015">are</a> 16,766 primaries and 3,381 secondaries in England so there are many more primaries to convert. Many primaries are small – hence they cannot be stand-alone academies – and they will have to become part of existing multi-academy trusts. This means the cost of conversion per school could be lower than previously thought.</p>
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<p>Yet the costs are likely to be on-going rather than one-off. And there are potential hidden costs – time taken up by teachers, governors and local authorities in the conversion process, and then adapting to the “new rules” that come with academy status. </p>
<p>The pace of change may exacerbate these hidden costs. Even in that bastion of free enterprise, competition and innovation, the United States, <a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/09/17/7-key-facts-about-charter-school-quality">only about 6%</a> of the school population are in “charter schools”, a form of academy, 25 years after their introduction. </p>
<p>When you look at the details of conversion, monitoring standards, funding and accountability of academies – the costs of running the system look certain to be high. This will involve the DfE funding arrangements and dealing with appeals against academies and failing schools. In 2015, the Education Select Committee <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">recommended</a> that more support is also needed for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group">Regional Schools Commissioners</a>, who are now charged with overseeing academies. </p>
<p>Multi-layered responsibility and oversight invite difficulties and PR disasters – particularly when it comes to accountability to parents of primary school children. Transparency and accountability are the antidote, but this costs money. In the US, the monitoring regime for charter schools is more open and stringent (contracts are for three to five years rather than seven in the UK) – partly because conversion has been voluntary or new schools have been established as charters. </p>
<h2>Is it worth the cost?</h2>
<p>All might be well if the switch to academies produced clear cut, positive results across all pupils, which outweighed the transition costs and any higher running and monitoring costs to the state.</p>
<p>The “gold standard” of analysing the success of schools that have been given more autonomy has come from the US by way of a coin flip. <a href="http://users.nber.org/%7Eschools/charterschoolseval/how_NYC_charter_schools_affect_achievement_sept2009">Studies</a> using entry via a lottery mean that students at US academy-type schools, known as charters, can be “randomly matched” with state-maintained schools – so researchers can compare “apples with apples”. </p>
<p>In the UK, we don’t have admission by lottery and so researchers compare pupils who voluntarily choose to go to academies or free schools with pupils who go to state-maintained schools. It’s of course possible that the children at academies may do better or improve faster, simply because they start with higher academic attainment levels, better home environments, better neighbourhoods, greater motivation and maybe, better academic genes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.5.4.1">Entry-lottery studies</a> are the best method of ensuring that some of the unobserved differences between academy and state-maintained pupils, which may be the cause of future pupil performance, are not wrongly attributed to the change to academy status.</p>
<p>This is the weakness in the white paper’s analysis – the methodology is often not comparing apples with pears, but apples with elephants.</p>
<p>In the UK, there are plenty of unanswered questions about the effectiveness of academies. For example, we don’t know yet whether giving schools more autonomy helps disadvantaged minority pupils – or “average” or “exceptional” pupils. Nor do we know what truly causes improvements in a school’s results – better teachers, higher salaries, longer academic year, support from other schools or children’s services, or conversion to another set of administrative structures. </p>
<p>What is clear is that the evidence does not support rushing through the forced conversion of all schools into the academy structure by 2022 and that the costs of the policy are still far from clear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Cuthbertson is an ordinary member of the Labour Party </span></em></p>The government’s plans could come with many hidden costs.Keith Cuthbertson, Professor of Finance, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563892016-03-24T16:23:51Z2016-03-24T16:23:51ZForced academisation by proxy: when schools have little choice but to convert<p>All schools in England that remain under local authority control are now living with the threat of being <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/15/every-english-school-to-become-an-academy-ministers-to-announce">forced to become academies</a>. As the mother of a child who attends a school <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/parrs-wood-high-school-set-10589452">that chose to become an academy</a>, rather than have its hand forced, it is painfully ironic to watch this happen. Considering the government’s rhetoric on educational choice, freedom and autonomy that supposedly accompanies its academies agenda, parents will soon have little option but to send their child to an academy. </p>
<p>Whether the forced academisation of all England’s schools will actually happen or not remains to be seen. Over 130,000 people <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747">have so far signed a petition</a> calling on the government to rethink the plans announced in the recent budget, with teachers set to <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/teachers-prepare-to-march-against-all-out-academisation-as-petitions-pass-100000/">march in protest</a> against the issue. </p>
<p>Regardless of what legal powers are introduced to make the plans a reality, the existence of the threat of forced academisation legislation is likely to colour all future decision-making of schools’ governing bodies. Under the cloud of such a threat the logical question for schools is: do we academise now on our own terms or wait to be forced under unknown circumstances and conditions? </p>
<h2>Act now, or be forced to</h2>
<p>I recently experienced this exact form of constrained decision-making with regards to proposals to convert my child’s school – Parrs Wood High School, Manchester – to an academy. In our case, the strongest argument in favour of academy conversion was that of the fear of being forced to do so. </p>
<p>The consultation period took place during the progression period of the recent <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/educationandadoption.html">Education and Adoption bill</a>, which introduced new measures for the government to forcibly academise any school that is deemed to be “coasting”. The lack of clarity about what this term means, coupled with the uncertainty about the direction of educational policy regarding schools’ governance, is likely to fuel rumours and instil fear. This was arguably the case in my child’s school. </p>
<p>The following excerpt from personal correspondence with the governing body at my child’s school in December 2015 exposes the underlying principle of fear driving the decision-making process, when all other arguments in favour of conversion were exposed as weak or lacking foundation. The governors stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This government has made it clear that they are going to take all schools out of LA control in the life of this parliament. The greatest danger to schools is that they are forced to academise with a DfE [Department for Education] approved chain. This is currently what happens after an Ofsted report which defines the school as requiring improvement or inadequate. </p>
<p>In the Education and Adoption bill due to be law in January a school can be forced to become part of an academy chain if it is seen as coasting. We don’t know what that is, but it is clear a dip in results or even a lack of improvement could fit this definition. So the choice for a governing body is to wait to be academised or to academise on its own terms.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What is the agenda?</h2>
<p>There is still <a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/12119/1/12119.pdf?DDD29+ded4ss+dul4eg">no conclusive evidence</a> to support claims that academies raise standards and any success academies may have had might be explained by increased investment in schools. Add to this uncertainty <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35832743">highlighted by Labour</a> about how much turning all schools into academies will cost, and it is difficult to produce an argument of substance in favour of such aggressive change.</p>
<p>Arguments in favour of academisation are questionable and are <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/IMPB02/IMPB02.pdf">increasingly undermined by evidence-based research</a>, yet the academies agenda retains a strong foothold in educational policy. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/99950/99950.pdf">recently aruged</a> for the need to articulate a clear vision of the aims of academy policy and whether it benefits pupils.</p>
<h2>Lacklustre opposition</h2>
<p>The strongest opposition to academisation has so far come from grass roots campaigns. Since the Conservative-led coalition stepped up the transformation of schools into academies, official lines of opposition have been delivered from the National Union of Teachers and the <a href="http://www2.labour.org.uk/tory-led-government-has-distorted-labours-academies-scheme">Labour Party</a>, but without any robust campaigning.</p>
<p>Disappointingly, Labour’s shadow education minister, Lucy Powell, has been somewhat lacklustre in her responses to academisation. In the case of my child’s school in Manchester (which she coincidentally attended herself as a pupil), her response was to refuse to offer her opinion on whether the school should convert or not. She adopted the party line of the school governors – that it is better to take control of academisation than to be forced into it. She <a href="http://www.lucypowell.org.uk/lucy_s_statement_on_parrs_wood_s_plans_to_become_an_academy">later stated</a> that plans to remove the consultation process for schools that the government deem coasting was a problematic development that needed to be avoided. </p>
<p>Yet the consultation process for Parrs Wood High School highlights the redundancy of such a process when a governing body is prepared to make decisions regardless of the opinions of those with an interest in the future of the school. A freedom of information request in relation to the consultation process revealed that 81% of staff, 75% of parents and 71% of outside agencies said no to academisation, still the decision to convert was taken. This gives a whole new meaning to the notion of forced academisation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"691369326725730304"}"></div></p>
<p>Surely there is a better way. The debate on academisation needs to focus on the question of what the benefits are. Academisation leads to <a href="https://theconversation.com/conflicts-of-interest-in-academy-schools-are-symptoms-of-a-wider-malaise-31867">increased connection</a> between state education and <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/researchingsociology/2016/03/23/playing-fields-and-political-football-the-case-of-forced-academisation/">private sector businesses</a>. Therefore the fear that academisation is another step towards the privatisation of the education system is something that can no longer be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Ingram is affiliated with the Labour Party and the Paws Off Parrs Wood campaign. </span></em></p>An academic, and parent at a Manchester school that has chosen to become an academy, says surely there is a better way.Nicola Ingram, Lecturer in Education and Social Justice, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/561122016-03-21T13:54:55Z2016-03-21T13:54:55ZGoverning academies regionally may be the way to iron out inequalities in schools<p>Parents and teachers are still coming to terms with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-raft-of-education-reforms-mean-for-englands-schools-56383">series of structural reforms to education</a>, the most radical of which – as announced by George Osborne in his budget speech – will be to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508193/HMT_Budget_2016_Web_Accessible.pdf">transform all UK secondary schools to academies</a> by 2022. </p>
<p>As the dust settles, I think that the system that eventually emerges might provide a more consistent context for addressing the inherent inequalities in English children’s attainment than the dying <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-obituary-farewell-to-your-local-education-authority-56387">local authority-supervised system</a> system it replaces.</p>
<p>Osborne’s announcement was swiftly followed by the first government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdf">white paper</a> on education for six years: Educational Excellence Everywhere. Among other things, it sets out the organisational arrangements for English schools the government expects to be complete by the end of this parliament. </p>
<p>All this had been precipitated a few weeks earlier by a <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula">consultation document</a> on a new national schools funding formula in which the government said: “we expect local authorities to step back from running school improvement (for any schools) from the end of the 2016/17 academic year”. </p>
<p>These are big changes, but they are not unexpected. In <a href="http://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/schools-and-schooling/equity-trust-and-the-self-improving-schools-system/">a new book</a>, I have argued they can easily be traced back to the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmeduski/633/633.pdf">third education white paper</a> of the Labour government in 2006 – and arguably even further back to a 1995 Conservative letter to local education authorities. </p>
<h2>The push for self-improvement</h2>
<p>These reforms are not merely a creation of the Conservative (or coalition) governments. For more than ten years, “system leaders” – accredited national, local and specialist leaders of education drawn from high-performing schools – have been steadily replacing staff formerly employed by local authorities to provide support to schools. These schools are either those identified as being in difficulty by failing to meet an ever-widening net of expectations, or those that just want to improve their offer to some or all of their children, even if already considered “good” or “better” by the schools inspectorate Ofsted.</p>
<p>As a consequence, many headteachers I interviewed no longer find local authority (LA) staff who understand their work and can be helpful to them – <a href="https://theconversation.com/failing-academy-chains-highlight-hole-at-heart-of-education-policy-23954">local authorities have been hollowed out</a>. So although most headteachers bear no antagonism to their LA, many have just moved on mentally: they do not look to the local authority for anything now. A fundamental shift in attitudes has taken place.</p>
<p>Rapidly increasing academisation of schools since 2010 – now to be completed under this government – accelerated this shift. So did the stringent budget cuts <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cuts-to-local-councils-will-affect-you-51622">imposed on local authorities</a> from 2010, that are set to continue. But I also found a dramatic and irreversible decline in regard for local democracy in nearly everyone interviewed, whatever their professional role or background. </p>
<p>LAs have not helped themselves: moves to cabinet and now mayoral government have reduced the great public deliberative processes that were a strength of the English system for 100 years. Some council “vision” documents still show elaborate flow diagrams whereby schools implement council priorities. Even the Local Government Association has <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/publications/-/journal_content/56/10180/4047947/PUBLICATION">openly spoken</a> of the crisis in democracy. </p>
<p>The rapid pace of academisation is not the whole story. The system emerging from the now dying local authority one is being supervised by eight <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group/about/our-governance">Regional Schools Commissioners</a> (RSCs), appointed in 2014. </p>
<p>I interviewed two of them before they took up their posts. They were hugely impressive: measured, focused practically on how schools realistically improve, and driven by a moral commitment, particularly to disadvantaged students. They are supported by <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/40108.htm">Headteacher Advisory Boards</a> – part-elected and part-appointed – all of whom have time built into their working weeks to support the commissioners. </p>
<p>Together, their role has been to intervene into academies and free schools in difficulty and help develop system leaders. This is now being extended to all schools, including those currently maintained by local authorities, and they will oversee the transition to a fully academised system. Currently there are eight RSCs responsible to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/david-carter">National Schools Commissioner</a> (David Carter), though the government has not ruled out there being more in the future.</p>
<h2>Signs of progress</h2>
<p>But there is a wider story of developing school partnerships I came across in my research. In some places – often originally provided with start-up funding by their local authorities – thriving school partnerships are engaging in rich development activities, using system leaders. </p>
<p>One partnership in the West Midlands, for example, provides rotating half termly “learning walks” whereby senior staff can hear about a particular innovation in a school and then spend time in classrooms seeing it in action. A teaching school alliance elsewhere, which I came across in my research, has amalgamated its professional development programme with one formerly provided by the local authority and now runs it from a local university. And some of these partnerships are already becoming the first port of call for development queries from their schools. </p>
<p>But this is uneven. In some parts of the country, the largest number of academies <a href="http://shura.shu.ac.uk/9318/1/Simkins_-_school_restructuring_in_England_-_final.pdf">are free-standing</a> – neither being in chains nor having any established partnerships of their own – leading to uncertainty. And the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arent-all-academy-chains-boosting-results-for-their-poorest-students-45132">variable quality</a> of academy chains has been well-documented. Secondary schools generally do not yet have one consistent set of partnership relationships through which they can focus all their improvement work – an idea <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/15804/1/a-self-improving-school-system-towards-maturity.pdf">advocated by</a> the education scholar David Hargreaves. All of this is still developing.</p>
<p>Democratic it ain’t though, and schools-led not yet. Nevertheless, with a focus on inequality in outcomes for children – essential in England – the system now in development could prove more reliable and consistent than the old one, though of <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/401.pdf">course not yet</a>. </p>
<p>And the story of local authorities’ other responsibilities towards schools is not yet finished with this white paper. I argue for new ones for some, including supporting local communities – especially in deprived areas – to articulate their own visions for their future development involving their local academies. The LA story has just reached another staging post. It’s time to move on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Riddell has received research funding previously from the British Academy. </span></em></p>It will take time, but a education system governed by Regional Schools Commissioners might not be more reliable.Richard Riddell, Senior lecturer, Education Studies, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563832016-03-18T12:01:34Z2016-03-18T12:01:34ZExplainer: what raft of education reforms mean for England’s schools<p>The Conservatives show no sign of slowing down the pace of education reform in England and made a flurry of new announcements on changes to the school system. After the headlines about George Osborne’s budget announcement that all schools must be on track <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35815023">to becoming an academy by 2022</a>, more detail on this and a raft of other reforms have been published by Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508447/Educational_Excellence_Everywhere.pdf">in a new white paper</a>. </p>
<p>The key principles of these changes is to increase schools’ autonomy to make their own decisions, and focus on the quality of education by monitoring the outcomes of pupils. </p>
<p>By transforming all schools in England into academies, the Conservatives aim to totally transform schools by the time the next election comes along – finally taking <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-obituary-farewell-to-your-local-education-authority-56387">local authorities out of running schools</a> altogether. The majority (61%) of secondary schools <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35815023">are already academies</a> – 2,075 out of 3,381. But the picture in primary is quite different – only around 15% of primary schools are currently academies. Converting all of them will be a huge task, not least for the Department for Education in managing the process. </p>
<p>The academies policy also creates a big challenge of governance. It’s unclear whether we can find enough high quality governors to run all our schools well. One way of solving this problem might be to get schools to join together in multi-academy trusts (MATs), otherwise known as academy chains. The white paper suggests that “most schools will join or form MATs”. </p>
<p>But this will only partially solve the problem. While some academy chains such as Harris or ARK have been highly effective, <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Chain-Effects-2015.pdf">others have had major issues</a> in terms of quality of performance. </p>
<p>The white paper suggests a strong role for the eight existing Regional Schools Commissioners in monitoring the quality of academy chains and intervening where necessary. In addition, measures have been proposed to increase the role of parents, who will be allowed to petition to have a school moved to another chain. </p>
<p>There will also finally be the publication of accountability and performance measures for MATs, something <a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-dont-operate-in-a-vacuum-so-why-inspect-them-as-if-they-do-33693">that was overdue</a> in a system in which they play such a central role. </p>
<h2>Too much, too soon?</h2>
<p>All this is happening at a time when the overall evidence on whether academies have an overall positive effect on standards is mixed. The first generation of academies, the so-called “sponsored” academies set up in disadvantaged, primarily inner-city areas to take over from struggling schools, have shown <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-wave-of-academy-schools-created-under-labour-boosted-grades-39665">positive effects</a> on attainment. The picture <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/IMPB02/IMPB02.pdf">is less clear</a> for the more recent “converter” academies, successful schools that could convert to academy status. </p>
<p>Full academisation of English schools also marks the end of the National Curriculum, a flagship policy of a previous Conservative government, as academies can set their own. In practise, however, the exam and accountability system – including performance measures such as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc">English Baccalaureate</a> – leaves government with a strong lever to direct what schools teach.</p>
<p>Osborne also announced additional funding for a quarter of secondary schools to extend their school day. This can be a useful strategy to improve attainment in particular for disadvantaged students. But as with academisation, the evidence is mixed: it is what schools do with the extra time that really counts. In particular, activities <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/extending-school-time/;%20http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED461695">need to be academically focused</a>, but sufficiently attractive to make sure students actually attend them.</p>
<h2>Closing the gap</h2>
<p>The schools inspectorate Ofsted recently <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-nation-divided">identified a gap in school standards</a> between the north and south of England, with the former under-performing. In response to this, the government announced a strategy, partly copied from the successful <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/184093/DFE-RR215.pdf">London Challenge</a>, to improve them. The model is based on outstanding schools and leaders supporting their less successful neighbours. </p>
<p>There is evidence that this strategy can be successful, but <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09243453.2013.840319#abstract">it doesn’t work in all cases</a>. Some critics have claimed that the success of the London Challenge was not down to the strategy at all, but to changes in demographics, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-why-do-students-in-london-do-better-at-school-34090">growing number</a> of non-white British working class pupils. Others have pointed to the additional funding received for each pupil by London schools. </p>
<h2>Teacher training revamp</h2>
<p>The white paper proposes to further increase the proportion of teacher training offered by schools rather than universities. The “best” universities will still offer teacher training, often in “centres of excellence” based on their “world-leading research and subject expertise”. This suggests that difficult times may be coming for those universities that provide teacher training that does not fit the criteria. </p>
<p>Schools are also to be given an increased role in accrediting new teachers. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/qualified-teacher-status-qts">The current system</a> will be scrapped and replaced by “accreditation based on a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, as judged by great schools”. Headteachers will play a key role. </p>
<p>The existing school-led teacher training system has come in for a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/jan/19/school-direct-is-choking-university-teacher-training-courses">lot of criticism</a>, but in reality there is no real evidence of its effectiveness or otherwise. In part, this is because the impact of teacher training on student outcomes <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272710001696">is hard to measure</a>. Still, the government’s emphasis on improving teachers’ subject knowledge and ensuring the content of their initial training is based on evidence is welcome, and will hopefully debunk some of the myths and poor practices that <a href="http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/papers/de-bruyckere-urban-myths-2015.pdf">still crop up in education</a>. </p>
<h2>Fairer funding</h2>
<p>The final major reform that will have a large impact in many schools is the change to the school funding formula. The government has set aside £500m to ensure that 90% of schools are funded under the new “fair funding” formula by 2020 to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-way-schools-are-funded-in-england-is-ripe-for-reform-heres-why-55909">eliminate current discrepancies</a> in per pupil funding around the country. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/PlKiN/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The new formula simplifies funding by using four levers: a basic amount per pupil, a payment based on additional needs such as low prior attainment, school costs (the extra costs for serving rural communities), and area costs (more funding will go to areas with higher costs). </p>
<p>This is likely to decrease some of the differences in funding between schools in different areas. What is fair is of course in the eye of the beholder and those schools and areas losing out under the new formula will no doubt quickly point out any inequities the new system may contain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Muijs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unpacked: academy ramp-up, new teacher qualifications and school funding formula.Daniel Muijs, Director of Research and Deputy Head of Southampton Education School, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563872016-03-17T10:57:08Z2016-03-17T10:57:08ZAn obituary: farewell to your Local Education Authority<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115358/original/image-20160316-30231-fric7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where to from here?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>By announcing that all schools will be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35815023">expected to become academies</a>, George Osborne has foretold the death of local authority involvement in education.</p>
<p>Born on December 18 1902, Local Education Authorities (LEAs) will likely have their life support switched off sometime in 2022, by which time all schools will be expected to be on course to becoming academies. The local authorities will leave behind a number of precious local services, their future somewhat uncertain.</p>
<p>Despite their long life, LEAs have not been universally popular, making a number of enemies: the late <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2013/apr/09/local-government-margaret-thatcher-war-politics">Margaret Thatcher</a> and former education secretary Keith Joseph, to name but two. Between them they <a href="http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1984/apr/05/inner-london-education-authority">killed off the Inner LEA</a>, but the behemoth that was the remainder of the local education authorities remained. </p>
<p>The death of local education authorities then seemed inevitable after they lost many of their powers of control over schools with the 1988 Education Reform Act. For many years since, their role has largely been one of scrutiny and support, but for some this will be very badly missed. </p>
<p>This time, the Conservatives intend to deliver a fatal blow. But there are five ways that schools and children will lose out from the demise of local authority control of education. </p>
<h2>1. A local champion for vulnerable children</h2>
<p>Local authorities <a href="http://www.fulloflifekc.com/information-service/disability-law.php">must currently engage with parents</a> and schools to ensure that the right provision for every child is available locally. Ensuring the specific needs of every child are met is hugely complex and even <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26439576">local authorities struggle to meet their responsibilities at times.</a> </p>
<p>As education is fragmented, there will be concerns over how parents will be able to negotiate the minefield that is school admissions, with each academy or trust being its own admissions body. </p>
<p>Legally, local authorities have the responsibility to provide a school place for every child. If every school is an academy, local authorities or councils will have no power to require schools to expand their intake or take on any child. Already, LEAs are warning that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35671570">finding school places for all is becoming “undeliverable”.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact-sheets/complaints-about-special-educational-needs/">Currently, parents can take a local authority to a tribunal</a> if they feel the needs of their child are not being met. It’s unclear how this will work if the local authority in effect ceases to exist. </p>
<h2>2. A local vision for schools</h2>
<p>With the demise of LEAs, many schools will be run by multi-academy trusts (MATs) – chains of academies run by the same sponsors. Many trusts operate a number of schools, sometimes in different local authority areas. Some may know more about the local community than others. </p>
<p>The only answer the Department for Education has for under-performing academies or trusts is <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/academies-swap-trusts-in-emerging-transfer-market/">the transfer of schools from one trust to another</a>. This is likely to increase, alongside the incorporation of standalone academies into existing and new trusts. </p>
<p>The governance of academy chains has been questioned, most recently by the current head of schools inspectorate Ofsted, Michael Wilshaw, who <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35775458">highlighted several underperforming MATs</a>. </p>
<p>Ultimately, it is likely to be the vision of the trust, not the community, that schools will adopt – and parents will have to live with it.</p>
<h2>3. Local forum for school improvement</h2>
<p>School improvement arises from the efforts of people, not structures. A structural change will not deliver long-term sustained improvement in itself. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/11463/L13-718+CfPs+LGA+Education+v5.pdf/14435b0b-65cf-4699-9c84-e52083357a07">Local authorities have provided a platform</a> for a range of collaborations between heads, teachers, various schools and local and national services. Admittedly, some authorities are better at this than others, but the setting up of a free market competitive model for school governance where academy trusts actively compete rather than collaborate cannot be a good model for mutual improvement.</p>
<h2>4. Loss of essential services to schools</h2>
<p>Local authorities provide many services to schools, from the vetting of contracts and human resources management, to payroll services and delivering expertise in commissioning, tendering and procurement. They also provide many support services from school transport and peripatetic music teachers, to anti-bullying advice and educational psychology services. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115363/original/image-20160316-30203-1k0t9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Pens poised for new contracts.</span>
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<p>With academies funded directly by central government, local authorities will lose much of their funding as a result of the push to academise. This may well put some of these services at risk or increase their cost. If they are large enough, some MATs may be able to replicate the cost savings of local authorities by clubbing together and contracting such services. But small rural schools who depend on services offered by the council may struggle to afford them.</p>
<h2>5. Learning from the past</h2>
<p>The Conservatives have learned from Labour’s failure in the 1960s to completely eradicate grammar schools. The process of ending selection was resisted by some, most notably Kent, and the law never changed to ban or force grammar schools to close – it just prevented the opening of new ones. </p>
<p>They also learned from their own failure in the 1980s and 90s to abolish local authorities and establish more independence for some schools under what was called the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/40/part/I/chapter/IV">grant maintained programme.</a> Following Labour’s landslide election victory in 1997, a new act was passed in 1998 that reversed the grant maintained status of schools. </p>
<p>Putting these laments for the demise of the LEA aside, the evidence that academies are the best model <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arent-all-academy-chains-boosting-results-for-their-poorest-students-45132">for school improvement is severely lacking</a>, especially for the poorest students. Research suggests that underperforming schools actually <a href="http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2016/03/forcing-schools-to-become-academies-will-mean-more-inadequate-schools-and-worse-results">improve much faster under local authority supervision.</a></p>
<p>What the future holds for local authorities and education is extremely uncertain. The devil will be in the detail of the government’s planned legislation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Five ways children will lose out by forcing all schools to become academies.James Williams, Lecturer in Science Education, Sussex School of Education and Social Work, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533492016-01-20T15:27:09Z2016-01-20T15:27:09ZThe government’s vision for education is difficult to swallow – here’s why<p>If you were in any doubt about how complex and opaque the education system in England has become, a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/regional-schools-report-published-15-16/">new report</a> by MPs has outlined it in no uncertain terms. The report by the House of Commons education select committee into Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) raises a number of concerns about the role and function of the people charged with overseeing the growing number of academy schools in England. </p>
<p>The report questions the role and function of England’s eight RSCs and the whole area of democratic accountability in education, particularly in light of proposals to expand the academies programme contained in the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/educationandadoption.html">Education and Adoption bill</a> making its way through parliament. Combined with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/15/primary-schools-oversize-classes-claims-labour">reports that over 500,000 primary school children</a> are now being taught in super-size classes and that we are facing a chronic shortage of teachers, the whole area of the government’s strategic planning in education is called into question.</p>
<h2>A sticking plaster approach</h2>
<p>As parliament’s public accounts committee <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/report-sshool-oversight-and-intervention/">pointed out</a> in January 2015: “The DfE [Department for Education] presides over a complex and confused system of external oversight.” This confused system is made up of state schools that continue to be maintained by Local Education Authorities (LEAs), as well as academies and free schools, which are free from LEA control.</p>
<p>RSCs were introduced as “a pragmatic approach to academy oversight”, a sticking plaster over what has become such a convoluted form of accountability that not even those working in schools can understand it – not to mention parents. According <a href="http://www.pta.org.uk/">to PTA UK</a>, a charity that helps parent-teacher associations, just one in ten parents know what role RSCs play in their child’s education, leading to confusion when it comes to deciding where and who should address any problems. </p>
<p>Effective strategic planning is recognised <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270085642_Strategic_Management_in_Public_Services_Organisations_Concepts_Schools_and_Contemporary_Issues">as one of the cornerstones of effective</a> public services, as a number of <a href="http://www.geocities.ws/policy_making/en/publicpolicy/organizational_performance.pdf">research projects have highlighted</a>. </p>
<p>Yet as the boundaries between public and private become increasingly blurred, this planning becomes ever more complex. Reforms of the English school system that have intensified since 2010 have produced a <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/cmpo/migrated/documents/competition.pdf">hybrid system of accountability</a> in which numerous bodies compete and collaborate to provide educational governance. These reforms have also led to a serious planning deficit in terms of school places.</p>
<p>This lack of strategic foresight is all the more concerning given that none of these issues have come out of the blue. Researchers have been predicting a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-a-teacher-shortage-looming-34990">teacher shortage</a> for some time now, and the number of children entering reception classes has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433680/SFR16_2015_">rising in relation to population</a> over a number of years. </p>
<p>The ability to plan locally has been severely compromised by the undermining of resource and statutory powers of local authorities, not least in the areas of school planning. This <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/children-and-young-people/-/journal_content/56/10180/7648546/NEWS">led the Local Government Association</a> (LGA) to urge the government to expand academy schools to meet demand for school places, or else to give back powers to councils to open new state-maintained schools, something they currently are not permitted to do.</p>
<h2>Patchy solutions to big issues</h2>
<p>The government response to the places shortfall has largely been to advocate the opening of new free schools. The prime minister, David Cameron <a href="" title="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">speaking in March 2015,</a> committed his party to providing another 270,000 school places in free schools, if re-elected, by 2020. </p>
<p>Since 2010, free schools <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/25/extra-funds-free-schools-warwick-mansell">have taken a</a> disproportionate <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-and-expenditure-in-academies-in-england-2013-to-2014">amount of funding</a> compared to state-maintained schools. But they have also compounded the places problem by opening in areas <a href="https://fullfact.org/factcheck/education/72_per_cent_free_schools_areas_need_school_places-47254">where there is already a surplus of places</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crammed in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Smiltena/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And even when they do open in areas of need, they often don’t immediately <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/10089-001_Capital-funding-for-new-school-places.pdf#page=28">operate at full capacity</a>, but admit just one year group and build up to a full complement of pupils over a number of years.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6467602/NEWS">A survey by the LGA</a> published in August 2014 found councils had spent more than £1 billion in attempting to make up the shortfall. This was based on data which revealed that 66 of the 152 council areas with responsibility for schools would have more primary-age pupils than places for them in 2016-17, rising to 85 areas in 2017-18 and 94 areas in 2018-19.</p>
<p>The government response to the accountability gap – which has already led to issues such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/trojan-horse">Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham</a> – has been to implement the system of regional commissioners. But as the education committee’s new report points out, the flaws inherent within the reach and remit of the role are wide-ranging, affecting crucial areas of safeguarding, inspection, school improvement, democratic accountability and variation in standards between regions. The committee also points out that conflicts of interest need to be addressed far more cohesively, along with the thorny issue of who exactly holds these increasingly powerful individuals to account. </p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ascl.org.uk/ahead-network/briefing-on-the-education-and-adoption-bill-ahead.html">Education and Adoption bill</a> stands to place further pressure on what education scholar Martin Lawn describes as a “<a href="http://eer.sagepub.com/content/12/2/231.short">systemless system”</a> of education. This is one in which strategic planning is almost impossible given the number and overlapping remit of organisations involved in the governance of English education. </p>
<p>Jon Coles, chief executive of academy chain United Learning, giving evidence to the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/401.pdf">select committee</a>, suggested that the whole area of education needed a “back to basics” approach, stating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think we are reaching a point where we need a new settlement. We have not had a settlement that has been national, clear and comprehensive since the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/educationact1944/">1944 [Education] Act</a> … there has been a progressive erosion of some people’s roles, development of new roles, changes to the key functions of key actors in the system the landscape has changed hugely I think we just need to have a fresh look.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government assures us that it does have a vision for education: “A world class education system <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/15/david-cameron-i-want-every-school-to-become-an-academy">in which all schools are academised</a>.</p>
<p>Yet it is becoming harder and harder to buy into this "vision” when viewed through the prism of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-solve-the-teacher-shortage-53009">the issues</a> that currently beset education in England. No doubt the parents of those pupils being taught in a portacabin by the fifth supply teacher in as many weeks, and who have little idea as to where to address complaints, may have problems buying into that “vision” too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Baxter is affiliated as a Member of the Council of The British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society</span></em></p>The system of oversight of England’s academy schools has been criticised by MPs.Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Public Policy and Management , The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/516072015-12-02T14:15:53Z2015-12-02T14:15:53ZHow to close the north-south divide between secondary schools<p>Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of schools and head of Ofsted, knows how to attract headlines. In his <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480959/Ofsted_annual_report_education_and_skills.pdf">fourth annual report</a> on the state of education and skills in England, he did not hold back:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What we are seeing is nothing short of a divided nation after the age of 11. Children in the North and Midlands are much less likely to attend a good or outstanding secondary school than those in the rest of the country. Of the 173 failing secondary schools in the country, 130 are in the North and Midlands and 43 are in the South.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is considerable speculation about what has caused the division and what we can do about it. Although the secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, was careful not to refer to the London Challenge when she was interviewed on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06nrqg1/newsnight-02112015">Newsnight</a> on November 2, several commentators have pointed to its enduring <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-londons-secondary-schools-have-improved-so-much-28531">influence</a> in transforming school performance in London. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20141124154759/http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/london-challenge">London Challenge</a> was a secondary school improvement programme aimed to lift attainment that ran from 2003 to 2011 and was expanded in 2008 into the <a href="https://metranet.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/ipse/research-projects/current-projects/p105.cfm">City Challenge</a> to include primary schools and two new areas, Greater Manchester and the Black Country. </p>
<p>Wilshaw does not directly mention the challenge in his report, but he does link the improvements he saw as a London headteacher in the late 1990s to what he terms “the collective decision by headteachers, local politicians, chief executives and MPs to no longer tolerate underperformance”. He has called for “collective action” to raise standards in secondary schools across the country. </p>
<p>So the solution appears straightforward: apply collectively what worked in London to schools to the North and Midlands in particular. Unfortunately, things are a little more complex. </p>
<h2>Replicating success is never easy</h2>
<p>Although the London Challenge ended in 2011 there is little consensus about what made it apparently so effective. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/11/london-challenge-turned-poor-schools-around">Mike Tomlinson</a>, who was a chief adviser to the London Challenge, said that its success was partly down to improving the quality of leadership, teaching and learning in schools, achieved through high-quality professional development and support. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/184093/DFE-RR215.pdf">evaluation</a> put its success down to factors such as tackling school improvement at an area level and drawing on external expertise, including from local authority advisers. <a href="http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Implementing%20the%20London%20Challenge%20-%20final_0.pdf">Research undertaken</a> into the implementation of the London Challenge emphasised the importance of combining structural changes, such as the introduction of city academies, with emphasis on collaboration and actively sharing good school improvement practice. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/wp21.pdf">recently published research</a> argued that improved performance of disadvantaged pupils in London was present in both primary and secondary schools from the mid-1990s. It attributed this to: “gradual improvements in school quality”, rather than to factors directly associated with the London Challenge.</p>
<p>All of this suggests that replicating the London Challenge across the North and the Midlands would be difficult, even if funding on that scale were available now and we were not facing the shortages in teachers and school leaders highlighted elsewhere in Wilshaw’s report. </p>
<p>What is missing from Wilshaw’s bullish refusal to tolerate under-performance is any recognition of the importance of the context in which schools operate. As social geographer <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/08/london-problem">Danny Dorling</a> and others have demonstrated, London dominates the English economy in a way which is not replicated by the capitals of other countries. This means that what works in London, and why what works endures, may not apply elsewhere. </p>
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<p>Research published recently by IPPR North into <a href="http://www.ippr.org/files/publications/pdf/state-of-the-north-2015_Oct2015.pdf?noredirect=1">The State of the North</a> claims: “There is a 12-percentage-point ‘early years gap’ between the performance of the poorest children under the age of five in London and those in the North.” But as Wilshaw pointed out in his report and the graph above shows, there is no north-south divide among primary schools. We need to find out what primary schools in the North and the Midlands are doing so well to overcome their early disadvantage and what changes after the age of 11.</p>
<h2>The north-east</h2>
<p>Wilshaw highlights the north-east as an example of where things are going wrong at secondary level. What gets lost in his rush to identify the problem is that the two highest-performing local authorities in England at primary level – North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne – are in the north-east. We need also to look at why that is the case.</p>
<p>The current policy concern with “<a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-coasting-school-41993">coasting schools</a>” means that the North-South divide in secondary schools is likely to concentrate politicians’ minds in the next few years. </p>
<p>What should be noted is that the government’s de facto solution for coasting schools – <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33308278">converting more into academies</a> – is addressed rather gingerly in Wilshaw’s report. He states that academisation “can create the conditions for remarkable improvements” but is also clear that such structural reform has its limitations. </p>
<p>In Morgan’s Newsnight interview she claimed that “academies have proved to be hugely successful”. Like the drivers behind London and the London Challenge’s improvement in school performance, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-academies-are-the-same-dont-assume-they-will-all-boost-results-48698">remains contested</a>. </p>
<p>If we are to address the divide Wilshaw has identified, we need less of this kind of assertion and a rather more nuanced understanding of the issues involved in improving school performance, learning and teaching at scale.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jopling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Can schools in the North and Midlands replicate the success of those in the South of England?Michael Jopling, Professor in Education, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/486982015-10-13T13:44:46Z2015-10-13T13:44:46ZNot all academies are the same – don’t assume they will all boost results<p>Our <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1370.pdf">new research</a> shows that many of the schools that have become academies since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government came to power are fundamentally different in nature from those that became academies under Labour. Because of this, their conversion is unlikely to generate the same positive results in raising students’ attainment.</p>
<p>Following the 2010 election, the coalition quickly passed an <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/32/contents">Academies Act</a>, presiding over a dramatic expansion of the academy schools programme. The original programme, which was started by Labour in the 2002-3 school year, gave control of struggling state schools to private sector sponsors rather than local education authorities and enabled schools to operate with greater autonomy. <a href="http://theconversation.com/first-wave-of-academy-schools-created-under-labour-boosted-grades-39665">Our previous research showed</a> that in some settings these original schools that became academies managed to achieve sizeable gains in performance for their enrolled pupils.</p>
<p>The coalition government, while continuing to see the original “sponsored” academies programme as a remedy for failing schools, substantially widened the remit to allow certain schools – typically those rated outstanding by Ofsted – to gain the autonomy enjoyed by earlier academies, but without the need for a sponsoring relationship. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">growth in academy schools</a> in England since 2010 has been rapid: more than 60% of schools in the secondary sector are now academies and more than 15% of primaries. Importantly, the vast majority (around 80%) of this growth is due to the new type of academy schools, known as “converters”, which were already performing well prior to conversion.</p>
<h2>Who is going to the new academies?</h2>
<p>One of the major findings of <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1368.pdf">previous research in this area</a> is that the schools which became sponsored academies before 2010 went on to attract pupils who had achieved higher scores at the end of primary school. At the same time, after becoming academies, they reduced their intake of pupils eligible for free school meals.</p>
<p>Our new research assessed whether these findings are replicated in the new batch of academies. We compared differences in the changes to intake between academies that opened post-2010 with state schools that are set to become academies in the future – but have not yet become academies during the period of our analysis. </p>
<p>On average, we found that schools which have become academies since 2010 exhibited little change in attracting pupils with higher test results at the end of primary school (Key Stage 2), nor in the proportion of pupils on free school meals. </p>
<p>But when we divided the schools into sponsored and converter academies, the results were different. While the former are mainly underperforming schools, the latter are outstanding institutions aiming to opt out from the control of the local authority. </p>
<p>We found that much like Labour’s original sponsored academies, schools becoming sponsored academies under the coalition after 2010 went on to enrol pupils with higher scores at primary once they had gained academy status. In contrast to Labour’s sponsored academies, we found that they also enrolled a larger share of free school meal eligible pupils. </p>
<p>The results for converter academies differ markedly: schools that gained converter academy status showed no change in the scores of incoming pupils at Key Stage 2, and reduced their intake of pupils eligible for free school meals.</p>
<h2>Converters vs sponsored</h2>
<p>Differences between sponsored and converter academies come as no surprise. In the case of converter academies, high-performing schools have been encouraged to convert to academy status in order to enjoy the greater independence that such status brings, while sponsorship continues to be seen as a remedial route for schools struggling to maintain standards. This difference is mirrored in the characteristics of these two batches of academies before they had converted.</p>
<p>We found that schools that became sponsored academies under the Labour government tended to be towards the bottom of the national GCSE test score ranking in the year prior to becoming academies. Relative to an average performing school, a school in the bottom 15% of the GCSE ranking would be around 60% more likely to become an academy during the Labour years. The converse holds for the coalition period, where being in the bottom 15% reduces the probability of becoming an academy by 24%. </p>
<p>Likewise, we found that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals lead to a 75% increase in the probability of becoming an academy under Labour. The same increase would have reduced the probability of becoming an academy by 13% since 2010.</p>
<p>The difference between the characteristics of schools becoming academies before and after 2010 – added to the contrasting results we found for changes to pupil intake – suggests that the performance effects on students’ achievement are also likely to differ between the two programmes. </p>
<p>Although sponsored academies under the coalition government show similar changes to their composition to their Labour counterparts, converter academies differ. This makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions that the good performance found for pre-2010 sponsored academies can be extrapolated for the new wave of converter academies that have come to dominate England’s educational landscape.</p>
<p>Although this might seem a simple and obvious point – it is one that is very much worth making and repeating as it has too often been lost on politicians, commentators and academics alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Machin has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and Department for Education grants for economics of education research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Eyles and Olmo Silva do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new wave of academies created since 2010 are very different to those that went before.Olmo Silva, Associate Professor, Department of Geograhy and Environment, and Research Associate, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, London School of Economics and Political ScienceAndrew Eyles, Researcher , London School of Economics and Political ScienceStephen Machin, Professor of Economics, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/470122015-09-04T10:46:08Z2015-09-04T10:46:08ZLike it or not, schools are being converted into academies – that’s anti-democratic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93672/original/image-20150902-14045-ftgfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest against the academisation of the Hewett School in Norwich.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerblackwell/16647348949/sizes/l">Roger Blackwell/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As children head back to class this week, another school will be opening its doors for the autumn term as an academy – in spite of opposition from parents and the community. From early September the <a href="http://www.hewett.org.uk/">Hewett School</a>, a secondary school in Norwich, will form part of <a href="http://www.inspirationtrust.org/">The Inspiration Trust</a>, a not-for-profit charity which runs a chain of academies. In yet another blow for democratic governance the school is the latest in a long line to be converted <a href="http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/anger_as_government_confirms_hewett_school_will_become_an_inspiration_trust_academy_next_term_1_4181708">against the wishes</a> of many of its parents and the governing body, raising renewed questions about the democratic governance of the English education system.</p>
<p>As in the case of a number of other schools graded inadequate and subsequently <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/forced-academy-numbers-triple-primary-level-over-last-year">turned into academies</a>, it is only a short time ago that the Hewett School was judged to be “good” by schools inspectorate Ofsted. In May 2013 it received a “good” report in all areas – an improvement on its previous grade of satisfactory – with teaching graded as <a href="https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CD8QFjADahUKEwja3c30utjHAhVGlYAKHc1sAHs&url=http%3A%2F%2Freports.ofsted.gov.uk%2Findex.php%3Fq%3Dfiledownloading%2F%26id%3D2228253%26type%3D1%26refer%3D0&usg=AFQjCNG5FxBpmjzTPR3BNYwvcwxzVeD_dQ">good and sometimes outstanding</a>. But in November 2014 the school was <a href="https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CEsQFjAHahUKEwj7uICZu9jHAhVCgA0KHW4nC7s&url=http%3A%2F%2Freports.ofsted.gov.uk%2Findex.php%3Fq%3Dfiledownloading%2F%26id%3D2434838%26type%3D1%26refer%3D0&usg=AFQjCNEb2q751NvmzW50zuw7AvBqxOtJBA">placed in special measures</a> after a follow up Ofsted inspection.</p>
<p>A monitoring visit paid to the school <a href="http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/121173">in February 2015</a> showed that although there were still outstanding issues, progress was being made. A follow up visit in May 2015 confirmed that the school was making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures. But <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-32051978">in March 2015</a> the Department of Education (DfE) <a href="http://www.hewett.org.uk/util.php?um=file&ref=734&ty=DOCS">had already informed the school</a> that it was to constitute the governing body as an Interim Executive Board (IEB) and that it was possible that the school would become an academy. The final decision, that the school would be <a href="http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/anger_as_government_confirms_hewett_school_will_become_an_inspiration_trust_academy_next_term_1_4181708">academised and taken over by The Inspiration Trust</a>, was made in August 2015.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hewett.org.uk/util.php?um=file&ref=734&ty=DOCS">Of the parents that participated in the consultation</a>, 4:1 were against it. In some cases respondents to the questionnaire accepted conversion to academy but questioned the process, the lack of choice of sponsor and a failure to communicate effectively why such a decision had been made.</p>
<p>A pervasive sense of dissatisfaction with the choice of sponsor was a key reason why many were so against it being turned into an academy. The reasons given for this in the consultation were: “perception of the ethos of schools in the trust, political links of the trustees, the governance arrangements of the trust and lack of accountability.”</p>
<p>The Inspiration Trust has been linked to controversy. The trust, headed by Dame Rachel de Souza, ran one of three schools that were the subject of an investigation by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/09/ofsted-complaint-school-off-inspection-teachers">Ofsted following allegations</a> in 2014 that they had received prior notification of inspection dates due to De Souza’s position as both a “superhead” of the three schools and as a part-time school inspector. This raised questions about the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/18/headteachers-ofsted-inspectors-accountability">detrimental effects of employing</a> practising headteachers as inspectors. In January 2015, the schools <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Report_to_HMCI_following_an_investigation_into_allegations_of_inspection_irregularities_in_three_Norfolk_schools.pdf">were cleared</a> of wrongdoing by an independent review of Ofsted’s <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Report_to_HMCI_following_an_investigation_into_allegations_of_inspection_irregularities_in_three_Norfolk_schools.pdf">original investigation</a>. </p>
<h2>Convert or close</h2>
<p>The government’s academisation project took another leap forward earlier this year when the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, announced her intention to address the problem of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-coasting-school-41993">“coasting schools”</a>. The government plans to convert these schools – who fail to ensure that 60% of pupils gain five A* to C grades and don’t have a “credible” improvement plan – to academy status. This is in spite of the fact that to date there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-convincing-evidence-that-academies-are-pushing-up-school-standards-36728">no convincing evidence</a> that the current system of academies improve performance.</p>
<p>As the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/educationandadoption.html">education and adoption bill</a> – the legislation seeking to implement Morgan’s proposals – makes its way through parliament after the summer recess, the outlook for coasting schools that resist conversion looks decidedly bleak.</p>
<p>Resistance against “forced” conversion is not a new phenomenon. The <a href="http://www.antiacademies.org.uk/">Anti Academies Alliance</a> contains a catalogue of conversions of local authority-run schools into academies that were bitterly opposed by governors and parents. Many within education and outside of it are opposed to the highly politicised nature of conversions and the lack of evidence that these conversions are in the best interests of the students. </p>
<h2>Holding school commissioners to account</h2>
<p>Tensions surrounding the whole area of forced academisation are also reflected in the new system of local accountability, set up by the government in response to the public and political outcry surrounding the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-at-risk-of-extremism-could-fall-through-growing-gaps-in-school-system-44875">“Trojan Horse” affair</a> in 2014, and fears over an Islamic extremism agenda in Birmingham schools. The affair exposed the dearth of local accountability that prevails in many regions of England, caused by an erosion in funding and consisted media attacks undermining public trust in local education authorities. </p>
<p>Under the new system, eight <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group">regional school commissioners</a> (RSCs), appointed by the DfE are advised by a headteachers board made up of four elected academy heads and “experienced professional leaders” to provide sector expertise and “local knowledge”. </p>
<p>The scheme immediately provoked questions following the announcement that one of the key performance measures for RSCs was the number of academy conversions they had each achieved within a given period. <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/role-review-for-regional-schools-commissioners-if-education-bill-passes/">Although this may yet be reversed</a>, the whole area of school commissioners, how they are held to account and how they manage the vast areas that fall within their remit, is still not clear. </p>
<p>The relationship between regional commissioners and headteacher boards is also fairly vague and is contained in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group/about/our-governance">single line on the DfE website</a> which states that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Each RSC gets support from a headteachers board (HTB). HTBs are made up of experienced academy headteachers who advise and challenge RSCs on the decisions they make.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What is not clear is what power headteacher boards have to veto any decisions made by a regional commissioner.</p>
<p>The whole system of accountability in education is worrying to say the least. It is far from clear how the current arrangements are fit to ensure that those in leadership positions are abiding by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2">seven principles of public life</a>: that they are acting in the public interest with integrity, objectivity, openness and that in their leadership roles they are acting in accordance with these principles.</p>
<p>Parliament’s <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/launch-regional-schools-15-16/">education select committee</a> is now starting a inquiry into how RSCs will be held to account, and will also explore their relationship to Ofsted, individual schools and local communities. It is hoped that MPs’ findings will do something to provide clarity in the increasingly muddy and obfuscating system of educational accountability in England today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47012/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As children head back to class this week, another school will be opening its doors for the autumn term as an academy – in spite of opposition from parents and the community. From early September the Hewett…Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Public Policy and Management , The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/396652015-08-14T05:35:29Z2015-08-14T05:35:29ZFirst wave of academy schools created under Labour boosted grades<p>Struggling schools that were given more autonomy by being converted into academies under the former Labour government have seen improved exam results compared to similar schools that did not become academies, according to <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1368.pdf">our new research</a>. </p>
<p>The question of whether giving schools more autonomy to innovate will push up educational standards has enormous policy importance. Many countries, from the United States with its <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-fabulous-or-failures-35995">charter schools</a> to the UK with grant-maintained schools in the 1980s and 1990s, have deviated from the orthodox model of the “local” or “community” school controlled by a government education authority in an effort to increase pupil achievement. </p>
<p>Academy schools first appeared in early 2000s under the Labour government through education policy aimed at struggling schools. Under the following Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, academies became widespread following the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/32/contents">Academies Act 2010</a>, and there are now more than <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">4,500</a> academies. This new wave of “mass academisation” is no longer primarily targeted at struggling schools. </p>
<p>The original Labour programme – the subject of our research – replaced existing schools with a new type of state school, run outside of local authority control, funded directly by central government and managed by a private team of independent co-sponsors. Academy sponsors contributed some of the schools’ capital costs and delegated management of the school to a largely self-appointed board of governors who had responsibility for employing all academy staff, agreeing levels of pay, deciding on the policies for staffing structure, career development, discipline and performance management. </p>
<p>This represented a drastic increase in autonomy for the majority of the schools that converted. </p>
<h2>Improving grades</h2>
<p>Between the 2002-2003 and 2008-2009 academic school years, 116 of England’s state secondary schools gained academy status. A further 17 new schools were opened as academies and a small number of independent schools became academies. In <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1368.pdf">our research</a>, we studied 106 schools that converted from state-maintained secondaries to academies under the Labour government. </p>
<p>The vast majority of these schools were performing below the national average in terms of the performance of pupils at GCSE level – also known as Key Stage 4 – and were operating in disadvantaged local education authorities. For instance, in 2002, at the 106 academies that we looked at, 35% of pupils achieved five A* to C GCSE grades, against a national average of 51%. At these schools, 32% of pupils were eligible for free school meals, compared to a 17% national average.</p>
<p>Estimating the effect of attending an academy on pupil performance is difficult. A straight comparison of pupils in other state-maintained schools with those attending academies is unlikely to give causal estimates of the impact of attending an academy due to the non-random nature of both the school’s decision to become an academy and the pupil’s choice to enrol in one. </p>
<p>To address these concerns we focused on outcomes for pupils who, although they sat their Key Stage 4 exams in an academy school, enrolled in the school prior to it becoming an academy. We then compared outcomes for these pupils with those attending similar schools that became academies later, in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.</p>
<p>We found that those attending an academy scored better in their GCSEs than those who did not. The results were the equivalent of their best eight grades going from eight Cs to six Cs and two Bs. These effects are stronger when the pupil attended the school for longer and when the school attended gained relatively more independence upon gaining academy status. </p>
<p>The more marked gains were for those who had spent four years at academies that had converted from community schools. The increase was roughly equivalent to a child’s eight best grades at GCSE jumping from eight Cs to seven Bs and one C. This translates into a 16 percentage point increase in the probability of achieving 5 A*-C at GCSE. </p>
<h2>Autonomy matters</h2>
<p>Two other aspects also have an impact on grades. When we looked at the results for schools that already had some autonomy from LEA control before academy conversion, such as foundation or voluntary-aided schools, we found little positive impact on grades following conversion. The strongest impact was on community schools, who were in full LEA control, and then became academies. This strongly suggests that the level of autonomy gained determines the impact of academy conversion on pupil performance.</p>
<p>A further effect is that once a school converts to an academy, it attracts pupils who had achieved better test scores in primary school. We found that in the year of a school’s conversion to an academy, there was a jump in the average scores on the tests its new Year 7 intake took at the end of primary school (Key Stage 2 tests). Thus pupil composition changes and emphasises the need in research to look at pupil performance for pupils already enrolled in the school prior to conversion.</p>
<p>To sum up, the Labour government’s sponsored academies programme gave struggling schools more freedom and stronger leadership, leading to significant improvements in pupil performance. The greater the autonomy gained the more pronounced are these effects. The Labour academies studied in our research are, for the most part, very different from the new academies set up by the coalition government and there is no reason to suppose the results should carry over to them. </p>
<p>In fact, our paper concludes with a warning not to translate the findings over to the new coalition academies which are mostly different to the disadvantaged schools that converted to academies under the first wave of the programme. Studies of the newer academies, and free schools, will be an important research agenda in the coming years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Machin has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and Department for Education grants for economics of education research, but this article does not reflect the views of the research councils. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Eyles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Struggling schools that were given more autonomy in the early 2000s improved GCSE results for their pupils.Andrew Eyles, Researcher , London School of Economics and Political ScienceStephen Machin, Professor of Economics, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/451322015-07-24T05:23:00Z2015-07-24T05:23:00ZWhy aren’t all academy chains boosting results for their poorest students?<p>There is an increasing polarisation between how the best and worst chains of academies in England are helping their poorest pupils to achieve and progress at school. Our <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/chain-effects-2015/">new research</a> has found a growing gap between the most effective chains, where the results of the most disadvantaged students continue to improve, and the least effective chains, which have got worse. </p>
<p>The sponsor academies programme was intended to alter the fortunes of struggling schools in some of the nation’s poorest communities. Started by Labour in 2000, it was intended that helping these schools with the support of philanthropic, educational and business partners would improve the educational outcomes and future lives of young people from the least privileged backgrounds.</p>
<p>Since then, the size of the academies programme has increased dramatically. Five years ago there were about 200 academies, today there <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">are more than 4,000</a>. With the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hundreds-of-coasting-schools-to-be-transformed">post-election pledge by Nicky Morgan</a>, the secretary of state for education, to turn many “coasting” schools into academies, the new government shows no sign of slowing down its expansion. </p>
<p>The Sutton Trust charity has just published <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/chain-effects-2015/">Chain Effects 2015</a>, a report that I have written with lead-author Merryn Hutchings, and Philip Kirby, looking at how well 34 different chains of academies are doing in providing for their disadvantaged pupils.</p>
<h2>Best got better, worse got worse</h2>
<p>The report includes an index comparing the chains’ 2014 performance for disadvantaged pupils on the most important attainment measures. These include the percentage achieving five A*-C grade GCSEs or equivalent (including English and maths) and the percentage making expected progress in English and maths. It also includes the students’ performance in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ebacc-effect-pushes-pupils-into-more-academic-subjects-thats-a-good-thing-29931">English Baccalaureate</a> – five core academic subjects – and their overall performance on their best eight GCSEs. This index updates the version we published in our first report on <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/chain-effects-july-14-final-1.pdf">academy chains in 2014</a>. </p>
<p>The good news is that in 2014, 11 of the academy chains we analysed outperformed the national average. Across the sponsored academies – those sponsored by business or charities rather than deciding to convert to academy status to gain more autonomy – the proportion of disadvantaged students achieving five good GCSEs is at least 15 percentage points higher than the average for disadvantaged students in mainstream schools. </p>
<p>However, the impact of the other 23 academy chains is patchy at best. Our findings show that 44% of the academies analysed were below the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coasting-schools-illustrative-regulations">government’s new “coasting” level</a> in 2014 and 26 chains had at least one “coasting” school, illustrating the capacity issue to be addressed should the government pursue this measure. The difference between the best-performing and worst-performing chains seems to be increasing too: some of those chains identified as having low results and no improvement in our 2014 report falling back further in the last year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89518/original/image-20150723-22811-1gnonsz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving 5A* in English and maths, 2012 and 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/chain-effects-2015/">Sutton Trust, Chain Effects 2015</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to raise the bar</h2>
<p>Struggling schools should be supported by a range of suitable improvement agencies, including successful academy chains, maintained school federations, an outstanding local school partner where one exists, or successful local authority provision. Success against robust criteria should be the basis for appointment to provide school improvement, rather than the type of provider. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmpublic/educationadoption/memo/educ07.htm">Data from the Department of Education</a> shows that only 25 out of 704 applications to become a sponsor of an academy had been declined as of November 2014, or 3.6% of the total. Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that far from all are thriving. We need tighter and more transparent criteria for commissioning sponsorship of a school. </p>
<p>I suggest that the criteria for an academy chain to take on a new school should be four-fold. First, quality – in terms of attainment, and what schools offer to students is key. Second, the chain’s capacity is important. Third should be the strength of a chain’s track record against transparent criteria. Fourth, a chain’s strategic model and educational vision should also be clear, including the governance model, school improvement strategy, regional coherence, and envisaged rate of expansion.</p>
<p>Clearly, for those sponsors that are new and don’t have a track record, it would be especially important that the other three elements are particularly robust and well scrutinised.</p>
<p>As greater numbers of sponsors enter the system, it will also be vital that the mechanisms to remove failing sponsors also become more robust and systematically applied. Our evidence highlights this is necessary to ensure school improvement, and this will be especially vital if sponsorship is to be the main vehicle through which the government plans to improve schools.</p>
<h2>Five-year, not seven-year contracts</h2>
<p>The current seven-year contract, or funding agreement, between academy chains and the Department for Education should be reduced to five years. Seven years is far too long for a school to remain in the hands of a sponsor that does not secure improvement. In the US, the contracts for or “charters” for their charter schools are typically for three to five years. Evidence to the UK parliament’s <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">Education Select Committee inquiry on academies and free schools</a> suggested that these tight contracts, coupled with rigorous assessment and non-renewal where necessary, are key to success.</p>
<p>We do of course have evidence of some sponsor chains with exceptionally strong success, realising the transformative impact on the educational outcomes of their disadvantaged students originally envisaged by the policy. There is not yet firm evidence on why some academy chains are more successful than others, but it is imperative that steps are taken to ensure that we learn from the successful sponsors, and spread these lessons across the system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Becky Francis has received funding from the Education Endowment Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Coucnil and the Sutton Trust. She is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>The gap is growing between the best and worst chains of academies, according to new research.Becky Francis, Professor of Education and Social Justice, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/448752015-07-21T11:17:16Z2015-07-21T11:17:16ZChildren at risk of extremism could fall through growing gaps in school system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89161/original/image-20150721-24261-15134ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keeping an eye on who's gone missing. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Empty classroom via wavebreakmedia/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With preventing young people from being radicalised <a href="https://theconversation.com/britain-seeks-to-understand-why-some-muslims-migrate-to-islamic-state-44395">high on the new Conservative government’s agenda</a>, much attention is being directed towards schools’ role in <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-on-the-frontline-against-terror-what-should-schools-do-about-radicalisation-43942">combatting it</a>. But there are concerns that recent changes to the structure of the education system may have created gaps which have reduced the capacity of schools and local authorities to do this. </p>
<p>Ofsted’s chief inspector of schools, Michael Wilshaw, has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444746/Advice_letter_from_HMCI_on_the_latest_position_with_schools_in_Birmingham_and_Tower_Hamlets.pdf">written</a> to the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, highlighting what he described as a “serious safeguarding issue” discovered during the ongoing monitoring of schools in <a href="https://theconversation.com/trojan-horse-plot-exposed-a-fragmented-education-system-35583">Birmingham and Tower Hamlets</a> where there were concerns that children had not been protected from extreme Islamist ideology. </p>
<p>The issue was the potentially high numbers of pupils whose names had been deleted from school registers following the fallout from the so-called “Trojan Horse” scandal, without the schools or their local authorities knowing where the pupils had gone. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33520643">According to reports in the BBC,</a> unannounced inspections of 14 schools in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets revealed that over 1,000 pupils moved from these schools between September 2013 and June 2015. The pupil’s destination was not clearly recorded in over 350 of these cases, which indicates the scale of the issue.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89166/original/image-20150721-24295-18tu2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Registering those who don’t come back.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roll call via B Calkins/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wilshaw said that although schools and local authorities were mainly complying with their statutory duties, inspectors found that recording and reporting cases of children being removed from school were inconsistent. There was poor communication and coordination between schools and local authorities on individual cases – and systems for identifying and tracking pupils who leave independent schools (which include academies and free schools in some government definitions) were inadequate.</p>
<h2>Local authorities don’t have all the tools</h2>
<p>So where does responsibility for these children and young people lie, especially given the increasing numbers of academies and free schools outside of local authority control? </p>
<p>Most of the government’s guidance on safeguarding children focuses on issues which occur when a pupil is still on a school’s register. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/395138/Children_missing_education_Statutory_guidance_for_local_authorities.pdf">Children Missing Education</a>, the statutory guidance for local authorities when pupils disappear, places the responsibility on local authorities for ensuring that children moving between schools or local authority areas remain in the system. </p>
<p>The rather vague guidance states that local authorities should check with each other and “share information in order to ascertain where a child has moved”. They should also “raise awareness of their procedures” with agencies working with children and their families, including the UK Border Agency and HMRC, so that they can help trace children who go missing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/school-to-school-service-how-to-transfer-information">School to school</a> (S2S), a secure internet system, is available to transfer pupil information between authorities. However, as Wilshaw highlighted, current regulations do not require schools or local authorities to record or check the onward destination of pupils who go missing. He suggests that this makes it difficult to determine whether any of these children are at risk of “harm, exploitation or the influence of extremist ideologies” and recommends that the regulations be strengthened to clarify the responsibilities of schools and local authorities when children and young people go missing.</p>
<h2>A deeper issue</h2>
<p>The Department for Education has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33520643">said in response</a> that it will strengthen the guidance and amend the regulations about the information a school has to collect when a pupil is taken off its register. However, there is a deeper issue here, which goes to the heart of school governance in what is an increasingly fragmented education system in England. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmpubacc/735/735.pdf">report on school oversight and intervention</a> by parliament’s Public Accounts Committee report in January 2015 found that: “lack of clarity in the Department’s guidance has contributed to a situation where some local authorities do not understand their safeguarding duties towards pupils in academies”. </p>
<p>This was echoed in March by a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/academies-and-free-schools%20http://www.parliament.uk/academies-and-free-schools">report on academies and free schools</a> from parliament’s Education Committee, which attributed the reluctance of local authorities to monitor safeguarding in academies to “the very strong messages that have been sent to local authorities more generally about not overseeing and meddling in academies”. </p>
<p>This reluctance is unlikely to decrease, particularly as the number of schools opting to become academies increases, or if those that are identified as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-coasting-school-41993">“coasting school”</a> are potentially forced to become one. At the same time, expenditure cuts have <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5fcbd0c4-2948-11e5-8db8-c033edba8a6e.html#axzz3gWLAOOvt">affected the capacity of local authorities</a> to monitor a range of areas, including child safeguarding. </p>
<p>Wilshaw may be right to argue for clearer regulations and to use the “Trojan Horse” affair and associated fears about extremism to highlight the issue of children and young people going missing. </p>
<p>Of course, there is no evidence yet that indicates that any of the 350 children missing from school registers in Birmingham or Tower Hamlets are either at risk or indicators of a larger problem. So whether, given their reduced capacity and resources, tighter regulations will enable local authorities to find out remains open to question.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jopling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no consistent system for recording and reporting children who are removed from school registers.Michael Jopling, Professor in Education, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/419932015-05-19T11:18:45Z2015-05-19T11:18:45ZExplainer: what is a ‘coasting’ school?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82195/original/image-20150519-30501-fcw3ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No room for flat-lining.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Classroom by michael jung/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Central to the new government’s education policy is a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32763097">determination</a> to “tackle coasting schools”. But what are “coasting” schools and why is the education secretary Nicky Morgan so exercised about them?</p>
<p>There is no agreed definition of a coasting school. New Labour saw coasting schools as those “at risk of failure” in its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325111/2007-childrens-plan.pdf">2007 Children’s Plan</a> but was unable to translate that concern into policy. This was perhaps partly due to the report’s recognition that we needed to be better at identifying such schools. </p>
<p>The subsequent Conservative-led coalition was less circumspect. The Conservatives’ concern with coasting schools can be traced back to 2011 and David Cameron’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pms-speech-on-education--2">speech to a free school in Norwich</a> where he identified coasting schools broadly as “the ones whose results have either flat-lined or where they haven’t improved as much as they could have”. </p>
<p>This resulted in a change in Ofsted’s grading system. Before 2012, schools inspected by Ofsted could be judged outstanding, good, satisfactory, or inadequate. From 2012, the “satisfactory” rating became “requires improvement”. This significant shift in tone enabled Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of schools at the regulator Ofsted, to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-scraps-satisfactory-judgement-to-help-improve-education">define coasting schools in the following terms</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No schools will be allowed to remain in the category of ‘requires improvement’ for more than three years. Under the proposals, schools judged in this new category would be subject to earlier re-inspection, within 12-18 months, rather than up to three years as at the moment. Schools will be given up to two inspections within that three year period to demonstrate improvement. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What makes a school ‘coast’?</h2>
<p>If it has been difficult to define “coasting” schools, determining what makes a school “coast” is even more problematic. The research that has been done in this area tends to reflect the findings of school improvement and school effectiveness research. <a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/satisfactory-schools/">A report in 2011 by the Royal Society for the Arts</a> into what were then still “satisfactory” schools found that “what came across overwhelmingly is the inconsistent quality of teaching and assessment practice within ‘satisfactory’ schools”, and also identified problems with systems and monitoring, school leadership and governance, and engagement with parents. </p>
<p>They also highlighted the fact that students from disadvantaged backgrounds were over-represented at satisfactory schools and that school contexts had a significant impact. A New Labour <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00941-2008DOM-EN.pdf">report on improving coasting secondary schools</a> in 2008 identified insufficient accountability and challenge and lack of focused awareness of key areas such as aspirations for pupils and effective pupil support strategies. Again, context was seen to be a crucial factor.</p>
<h2>Morgan’s new proposals</h2>
<p>We are now beginning to find out what will happen to coasting schools that fail to demonstrate improvement. The <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/Manifesto">Conservative Manifesto</a> stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any school judged by Ofsted to be requiring improvement will be taken over by the best headteachers – backed by expert sponsors or high-performing neighbouring schools – unless it can demonstrate that it has a plan to improve rapidly. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Education secretary Nicky Morgan wasted no time in promoting this policy in both <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11610551/Nicky-Morgan-We-will-step-up-our-school-reforms-so-every-child-can-thrive.html">an article in The Daily Telegraph</a> and an appearance on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02rkrsj">Andrew Marr Show</a> on May 17. In the article she wrote of the need to “extend our academies programme to tackle ‘coasting’ schools” and insisted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>These schools must improve too and will be put on immediate notice and required to work with our team of expert head teachers. Those that aren’t able to demonstrate a clear plan for improvement will be given new leadership.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the moment these policies remain very vague. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-scraps-satisfactory-judgement-to-help-improve-education">Ofsted identified</a> around 3,000 coasting schools in 2012. But as teacher and headteacher <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-a-teacher-shortage-looming-34990">shortages loom</a> and pressures on primary school places and school budgets increase, there is no indication of where all these “expert head teachers” will come from. </p>
<p>It is also not clear if this new leadership – and the sacking of existing headteachers – will be enough to prevent schools from being absorbed rather chillingly into the expanding academies programme. In her Telegraph article, Morgan said “we will speed up the process of turning schools into academies to make sure that new expert leadership is found for all schools that need it as quickly as possible”. </p>
<p>There has been no no acknowledgement in these proposals of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameron-forges-on-with-academies-revolution-despite-mounting-concerns-on-oversight-37080">criticisms</a> in the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">House of Commons Education Committee’s 2015 report on Academies and Free Schools</a>, which found that there is still no evidence that academies, especially primary academies, are a positive force for change. </p>
<p>And crucially, there is no recognition of the importance of context when looking at coasting schools and their future. Education policy since 2010 has been founded on ignoring the factors that influence children and young people’s engagement at school and assuming that transferring successful practice between schools via academisation is straightforward. </p>
<p>There is no evidence yet that suggests this approach is effective. This is not to suggest that we should accept “coasting” schools, but that we need to understand them, and the localities they serve, much better before imposing wholesale change upon them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jopling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nicky Morgan has wasted no time on pursuing plans to intervene in schools where results are ‘flat-lining’.Michael Jopling, Professor in Education, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/415532015-05-09T08:54:36Z2015-05-09T08:54:36ZConservative victory means England’s school system will look like few others in the world<p>No-one foresaw the <a href="https://theconversation.com/conservatives-defy-forecasts-to-secure-victory-in-uk-election-41400">scale of the Conservative victory</a> – it exceeded even the limits of the party’s own expectations. Now, a majority Conservative government comes to power – unexpectedly and with sufficient lead over a divided and, for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, demoralised opposition. What will this newly confident government mean for education in general and schools in particular?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/manifesto-check-conservatives-hold-the-course-with-schools-plan-40192">Conservative education manifesto</a> was long on aspiration. It promised that England would lead the world in mathematics and science; that there would be a place in a “good” primary school for every child; that every “failing” or coasting school would be turned into an academy to drive up standards; that universities would remain “world-leading”; and that further education would “improve”. But translating these – rightly aspirational – goals into policies will bring some difficult challenges.</p>
<p>David Cameron <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11384575/David-Cameron-School-spending-per-pupil-will-fall-in-real-terms.html">ruled out</a> a real-terms increase in school spending, but promised to protect per-pupil spending. This means that school funding will increase in line with pupil numbers, but not with inflation or cost pressures, including National Insurance changes. </p>
<h2>Funding squeeze ahead</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7669">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> calculated that this meant schools could face cuts of up to 12% over the course of the parliament. Unlike their erstwhile coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives declined to include further education in their ring fence, which raises the spectre that the further education budget could be under greater pressure. Already, planned post-16 funding changes are placing <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/28/schools-hidden-funding-crisis-teachers-education">a huge squeeze</a> on the breadth of curriculum in school sixth forms. </p>
<p>For universities, wage inflation, increased pension and National Insurance costs and cuts to capital budgets mean that the ceiling of £9,000 a year on undergraduate fees is a diminishing resource: while the Conservatives have <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-03/hague-tories-have-not-ruled-out-tuition-fees-rise/">not ruled out </a> increasing the £9,000 fee cap, such a move would be politically challenging.</p>
<p>If funding is going to be tight, so too will accountability for both schools and pupils. The Conservatives promised to introduce a new test for pupils who do not reach expected levels in English and Mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2 (age 11). The promise drew widespread criticism from school leaders and teachers and the <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Visible_Learning.html?id=lh7SZNCabGQC">international evidence on repeating tests</a> in successive years as a lever for improved attainment is generally negative. </p>
<p>They look to a tightening of demands on schools. It appears that they will require all pupils to take GCSEs in the English Baccalaureate subjects (English, mathematics, science, a language and history or geography), and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2935690/3-500-coasting-schools-turned-academies-war-mediocrity-David-Cameron-remains-power.html">they have promised</a> to turn all schools they describe as “coasting” or “failing” into academies – essentially those with OFSTED grades 3 or 4. But while some academy groups have been extremely effective in improving the performance of struggling schools, not all have, and the struggle to find enough high-quality school sponsors looks to become increasingly difficult.</p>
<p>There is also, it appears, a commitment to a <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">new accountability framework</a> to recognise teaching quality in universities drawing on the claimed parallel of the Research Excellence framework for research quality. This was something that was prefigured but never really developed in Labour’s <a href="http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/nb/Barr_Selcom030311.pdf">2003 universities White Paper</a>. </p>
<h2>Full speed ahead on free schools</h2>
<p>There will be further diversification of education provision and types. The Conservative promise <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">500 new “free” schools</a>, as well as new University Technical Colleges, a new further education network of National Colleges and a strong commitment to extending online education in universities. Schools of all types – including grammar schools – will <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11417837/David-Cameron-Good-grammar-schools-should-be-allowed-to-expand.html">be allowed</a> to expand. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hyAp3uxvzx8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">David Cameron on free schools.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there is little reference in the manifesto to ensuring that new and diversified school and further education provision will be in the places of highest need. Some University Technical Colleges <a href="https://www.tes.co.uk/news/school-news/breaking-news/second-utc-close-due-financial-challenges">have already closed</a>, and while some “free” schools have been a success, others have been well-publicised failures. Delivering diversity is a strong theme of the manifesto – but so is the commitment to ensure that there is a good primary school place for every child. The balance between the development of an education market in new provision (although <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-profit-state-schools-have-some-attractions-but-theyd-be-politically-toxic-31069">“for profit”</a> schools have previously been ruled out) and effectively planned provision will be difficult.</p>
<p>This is especially the case in the face of the biggest challenge facing the new government: the need to provide an additional 500,000 school places to meet demographic growth over the next five years. This effectively means something like an additional 25,000 teachers on top of the number needed to maintain teacher supply. The manifesto commits to (effectively) doubling the number of new maths and science teachers being trained each year – something which is easier said than done.</p>
<p>The Conservative poll success has been striking. At root, it means that the radical <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">Michael Gove reforms</a> – to governance, curriculum and assessment – will be embedded, and that the English school system will continue to be radically reformed. We will have a largely autonomous system of competing schools and school groups in a high accountability framework. It will look like few other publicly funded school systems in the world, and the challenge of delivering the high aspirations which – rightly – the Conservatives have offered for every child in such a framework should not be underestimated.</p>
<p>*** This <a href="https://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/conservative-victory-means-englands-school-system-will-look-like-few-others-in-the-world/">article</a> was also published on the IOE London Blog***</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Husbands does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new majority Tory government now has the confidence in pursuing its aspirational education manifesto.Chris Husbands, Director of the Institute of Education and Professor of Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.