Acadamy school status : For or against?

Hi Chil - sounds like you heard the R4 programme on Toby earlier . I actually thought it was fascinating. From socialist to Telegraph blogger (via Hollywood). It explained a lot.

Academy schools are going to be good to begin with as they mostly got outstanding Ofsteds to become one in the first place. We shall see as they outstanding headteachers are replaced and then the effectiveness will be truly tested. I imagine with their own budget they have the capacity to be truly great or truly awful and with Ofsted being less and less involved we shall never really know. Also with the Conservatives letting people run free schools etc and giving away control, they have made sure it will never be their problem. I think David Cameron has this idea that the schools will become like mini Etons and everyone will turn out like him! Oh the joy....

My jury is out on accademies. But I do hear too much of Toby Young on the BBC

Scotland should take their share, (proportionally represented of course) of Westmonster MP's, free schools and academies.

You're not getting tuition fees either. Or Tory MPs.

For, For, For. But we're not getting them in Scotland...

www.antiacademies.org.uk/

ironman hope your kids' independent schools teach them how to spell

Longfingernails - I note your list of some advantages, Please could you "flesh out" these with some examples/information? For example - Putting choice in parents' hands, - how will this happen in academies I wonder? and

• Lower administrative costs - how do academies lower their admin costs?

That's really interesting, thanks Elf.

Ensure the school is aware it needs to provide access to the TPS and LGPS and that contributions are collected.
Visit the LGPS website at www.lgps.org.uk to find how to contact your pension fund administrator, or ask your employer.

The staff become employees of the private company, (charity), so no they will no longer be public employees. The terms and conditions are likely to ?TUPE? across, and initially very little will change. What has happened at some academies, (after about 12 months or so) , is this, the employer introduces an "incentive" scheme, such as UPS4 for teachers or maybe...HLTA 2, for support staff, and staff see "more money", however, once the staff sign up for these sorts of "incentives", they relinquish their own existing terms and conditions (selling their soul :)), after that they are on the company's T&C and a contract of employment, which might involve support staff preparing and delivering lessons, (well they would be being paid and extra £350/yr to do it so it's only fair :)) another good one is compulsory dinner-time duties, (again, there's some extra cash involved, how much is that worth?) and anything else the employer sees fit to throw in, to keep business running costs down.
Academies are required to offer the Teachers? Pension Scheme to all teachers and the Local Government Pension Scheme to support staff. Existing support staff should 'TUPE' across to the academy on their existing terms and conditions. This means the Green Book will still apply, except in the handful of LAs who have previously opted out. If the school chooses to move away from the Green Book, you should ensure, with the recognised support staff unions, that a forum is established to negotiate replacement policies with staff immediately. Clear policies and structures should be in place before any new staff can be appointed.
The move to academy status means that staff will no longer have the automatic right to continuity of service for the purpose of redundancy payments and some other contractual benefits, such as annual leave and occupational sick pay, when moving between schools. Raise the issue with both the old and new employer during the TUPE discussions, to ensure that teachers and support staff can move between an academy and a maintained school (and vice versa) without any loss of rights.
Pensions are not covered by TUPE transfers, but all academies must provide membership of the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) or Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to all eligible staff.

Will staff still be public sector employees? I'm a TA and thinking about my pension (paltry though it is).

www.educationengland.org.uk/history/timeline.html

Is the education system is only a political football, its aim, for the government to change our thinking process and give some control. It started of basically as a charity based affair, the church, developed into small independents run by local charities / communities/authorities, these were enveloped into the LA with the 1944 education act, (1946 where they discussed how the independent schools could be incorporated into the new state system), then this system is "broken up" back into small entities, run from a central location, which won?t be able to cope and consequently dish out responsibilities to local councils, which in turn will be swallowed up by local authorities, and around we go again. It's nothing new really let?s be honest; it?s just a way of simulating "progress". (change).
It appears that lots of folk are revelling in academies as a new idea and it?s simply not when we look at history; it?s only a new name. From what I understand the only benefit of an academy is the ?power? it gives to HT?s over staff and to adjust everyone?s salary (and some governors, who might not realise what they?re getting into in terms of extra work). All the other arguments don?t seem to hold water, the most recent government inishitive, the white paper will change the system across the board
At the moment staff are protected by employment laws, etc, until the government decides that these are impeding and revokes them too!

Your independent school that is

But your school has to follow the EYFS, do you mind that?

Elfhire. I'm sorry if I confused you. I would not send my children to an independant school if it turned into an academy.If academies were more like independant schools I would consider it very carefully before sending my children there. At present I'm very happy with the teaching and curriculum of independant/public schools I'm applying for. Why would anyone want to spend say £20.000 a year on their children's education for the school to be told what to do by the government? No thanks..... I wonder if Eton will become an academy LOL! Thanks for the link to ISC, I'll tell them if you have anything to do with the government I'm out!
My ds goes to a state school at present which is 'outstanding' and has great teachers, I'm sure many of them could get jobs in the independant sector.

www.isc.co.uk/publication_4_0_0_26_498.htm

"....Becoming an academy is not an obvious option for most independent schools because the associated conditions greatly reduce the independence valued by parents, teachers and Heads."
Although the statement relates to speculation that independent schools could turn to academies, it seems to confirm that an academy/free school wont be truly independent. Lets face it, it wont be with Michael's henchmen/women breathing down their neck :)
Those that want academy status, please find a nice job in the independent sector instead, it's wonderful!

I'm for if the children do not have to follow the national curriculum and are taught more British history say, I'm against it if children have to stay in school from 8am till 6pm, as I think the school day is long enough. I think there are some positives and some negatives, but would have to look into it more carefully. I'm sending my children to independant schools, but would be very interested in the academies if they say ran them on public school lines.

Janewa - I'm not clear on how an academy gives a classroom teacher greater autonomy, please could you share your opinion/facts?

The governors are appointed not elected. It's just unfortunate that the people appointed are business oriented not child oriented
www.anorak.co.uk/286642/news/rebekah-brooks-looks-after-the-kids-of-fulwood-academy.html/#more-286642
and some of the other governors seem to be linked either to an auditing company, KPMG, or other academies, so it is just business clearly.
IMHO - if a school want to go it alone, do it! but do it alone, there are many independent schools around the country which work quite well, but I really dont want to have to contribute to something (as a taxpayer), that I can't have a say in, (not that we can anyway I suppose!)

The curriculum argument doesn't seem to hold water as the white paper will change the curriculum across the board and all schools already have some freedoms, the only reason for following the curriculum is for league table purposes.

Macaroona, I'm not sure that any union is big enough to collapse educational standards, the biggest "union" is the government and it can do what it wants whether the unions are for or against the policy.

I think Lord Hill mentioned that schools converting to academy status made it clear that there was no requirement to enter into any recognition agreement with education unions...any agreement would be a significant factor in the assessment of the secretary of state will make before deciding or not to enter into a funding agreement....that a key academy freedom was to be able to set its own pay and conditions....and that its the responsibility of the governing body to consult with whoever they think appropriate...

For, anything that gives teachers greater autonomy is a good thing in my opinion.

Non-selective state schools have to take the pupils they're given and overall they do a fantastic job. There is no way they can be compared to schools that cherry pick. Even independents that don't select on ability can say no to anyone they want and get rid of later if they don't like them.

All our local secondaries are applying for academy status. I'm on the fence. More of the staff budget will obviously go on admin. What will they squeeze if they need to? Experienced teachers in exchange for a higher proportion of NQTs? Less support staff? I would be worried if there were no unions. Staff need some sort of protection from false accusations. I can't think of any real benefits at the moment so will have to wait and see.