to think all these school becoming acadamies is actually shit for the children and staff

[redandwhitetoadstool]

just allows the school to get away with paying lower wages and treat the school like a business, rather then children's educators

Academies are a terrible thing. They look all nice and flashy usually but they do damaging things to education.

I work in the only LA school left in an area that aka has grammar schools. The brightest go off the grammar, the ones who can afford the bus fare go to the academies, we get the ones that are left. We then add to that every child in a 40 mile radius who has been excluded from their academy for behaviour reasons or low attendance because no other academy will take them and as an LA school we don't have a choice.

My school was a wonderful place 5 years ago, a well rounded mix of children and a lovely atmosphere. It's now a dumping ground for children with difficulties who I absolutely love supporting but having them all in one setting isn't helpful for them or for the staff!

Seen the forced resignation more than once, particularly over the last five years and it's a hurtful and demoralising process. Teaching is not a black and white process, children are not machines and progress is not exponential. It is easy to get rid of staff if a face doesn't fit, results dip, behaviour becomes difficult to manage or a teacher can't keep up with the crazy workload. I've also seen it with older teachers near retirement as they cost too much. It's brutal!

However, my school converted to an academy last year and for staff so far there has been no change however there seems to be less ring- fencing of money which is allowing the building to be improved.

Chertsy- 2 in my LA school in the past 2 years. It happens.

there is no cash injection now (unlike previously). The academy I work in (converted) has seen unqualified staff being used as teachers (staff already working at the school in a different capacity asked forced to take classes including maternity cover, they are paid significantly less than qualified teachers.

Are these savings made used for the benefit of pupils? No, but it does allow for stupid spending decisions whilst we have to beg for the most basic equipment in order to deliver lessons, there is no paper in the school, no maths text books etc

Round here all of the high schools are academies, none of them are in a chain and it's been a good move as far as I can see. However, none of the primary schools are academies and I'm not convinced it's a good thing having the high schools being autonomous and the primary schools still under state control.

I worry that failing schools are made into academies and it is a sink or swim fix solution. Traditionally the local education authority is there to support schools but schools who are not good enough are being made into academies as a fix it solution when there is no evidence it will help improve education. I would suggest the lack of avliable external supports means they less likely to improve.

There is an article on the bbc news about mp enquiry into sex ed and the recommendations. It does not matter what the gov wants to happen free schools and academies, 40% of schools! don't have to follow gov rules.

I've worked for two; first one converted while I was there, and there was no real difference for staff - probably because SLT there were really fair and worked with staff.

The one I currently work at I will be leaving (and almost certainly teaching) this year or next year. It is hideous - insane workload, low morale, no-notice lesson observations, lesson plans to be turned in a week in advance, everything to be documented, ridiculous pressure and I have seen them bully out so many members of staff through rigged observations and their 'support plans'. (I'm not one they're trying to get rid of, they seem to be angling to promote me actually, but there is NO way in hell that I would take the extra stress!!)

Academies are pretty rubbish when it comes to an LEA having shortfall of spaces too.

Our LEA is in the position of having only a handful of non-academies left. Not all of these schools are in a position to expand - space constraints. The LEA is not soloed to build a new school. The government expects that new free schools will fill the gap. But free schools are not necessarily opening or even being proposed where there is a shortfall of spaces. The LEA Finds it difficult to force academies to take on bulge classes or expand permanently. The free schools don't have access to the land and expertise and overview of whipole borough that the LEA have. As a result, we're having free schools proposed on green spaces or with a specialism that the local population wasn't aware they needed. These free school spaces will join the portfolio of spaces that can be offered which will lead to parents being offered places at a school with, say, a language specialism that doesn't actually appeal to them, or a longer school day, or in a location that isn't convenient for them.

The end result is that the LEA isn't in a position of strength in terms of being able to forward plan to meet a growing demand for primary spaces. Being reliant on external agencies to meet the need and having no control over school expansion.

Our LEA was very good - results always significantly above the national average. Good-ish sen and other support.

But the carrot of the extra money was taken. And the local council is very Tory, education is expensive to provide and, like selling off all council housing to housing associations and getting rid of care homes to the private sector, the council was keen to get rid of the education responsibility by enthusiastically suggesting that schools academise. The only schools that didn't academise were those that were struggling, so they weren't in a position to sponsor themselves. And Harris swooped.

So the oversight of school improvement and so on has moved from the LEA, which was actually pretty expert and supportive, to a private provider. Great.

"Schools are run like businesses whether or not they're Academies (ex-governor)"

Yes they are (governor on finance committee at an LEA school)

cricketballs: No, but it does allow for stupid spending decisions whilst we have to beg for the most basic equipment in order to deliver lessons, there is no paper in the school, no maths text books etc

My brother teaches in a non-academy and he is often complaining of not having resources like paper and so on, the art lessons are limited to what resources he can buy for the lesson since there isn't the money in the school budget.

In the old days, the lea had significant purchasing power because of economies of scale. So they were able to provide things like insurance that they had brokered through their insurer and the cost was significantly lower. While academies have more money coming directly to them, because the 15% retained by the LEA for SEN provision and so on comes direct, the costs of building maintenance and insurance and school meals and so on is increased. I don't actually think that financially they are that much better off, and I do think that SEN services like SALT are more carefully rationed. I don't think that is a good thing.

Both my children are in academies (one secondary, one primary)

There's been no real change at either.

The secondary was put in special measures 3 years ago and has been working hard to improve, and recently came out top in GCSE results for our county. Staff morale is high, the knackered, leaky building has been repaired

The primary continues to go from strength to strength.

I know staff members at both schools and none have any complaints, nothing has changed for them

The one big difference for both schools is they're now out of the control of the LA. Our LA is unbelievably useless, have completely fucked up education here, becoming an academy can only be an improvement

My school became an academy. Now it is busy taking over other schools in the area as the centre of a multi academy trust. The head said that if we didn't take over other schools, as a lone academy we would be vulnerable to any chain that wanted to swoop in and take us over.

Any change in contract at my school and I will be put on a new contract which means I could be sent to teach in any school within the trust. I absolutely can't do this, all my childcare is centred around my current location, and I don't want to teach at other schools, we took them over because they were crap. No promotions for me then.

epic - I agree that LA schools also have financial pressures, but when we see silly amount of money being spent on artwork rather than the basics....

DS1's old school became a converter academy. It made no difference. It was a horrible school before and continued to be horrible afterwards. No teacher I know has anything good to say about it (even if it gets the best exam results of state schools in the city). He's now at a free school (despite my aversion to the whole free school thing) and it's brilliant, so much better. The school actually seem to care about him, not just view him as a number of a spreadsheet.

Indeed, flashy sofas and the like :(
Thankfully my DD's school are sensible when it comes to spending money, they seem to have become an academy for the right reasons. They changed just before my eldest went there, quite a relief that they seem to have done it sensibly as I was concerned.

My DD's primary is really sensible about spending.

No silly purchases while the children go without materials. In fact, they've been able to make better choices now the LA don't have a say

A couple of years ago (before it converted) our school moved into a new building which was pretty much an empty shell. The LA had fucked about with the budget so much there wasn't a lot of money left to make it nice for the children. We had lots of offers for free help from parents (gas safe engineers, qualified plumbers, painters etc) so that money could be saved to be spent elsewhere, but no, the LA insisted we couldn't use them.

The playing field that the council has been trying to sell off for years now belongs to the school and the LA can't touch it.

It has been quite positive in my experience

The school I used to work in has become an Academy. The first thing the Head was buy new furniture for her office, even though the previous furniture was fine. Then the SEN team were told their jobs had been 'deleted'. A huge amount of expertise was lost in a school with 30% SEN children. The staff have been decimated. Many have left, not necessarily to continue in teaching as they have been so badly treated. The school is a shadow of it's former self. I saw a former colleague a few weeks ago who is still there - she said staff now go in, keep their heads down and go home as soon as they can. The children have a new uniform with identical bags, lunch boxes and drink bottles. They have to march around the premises chanting 'We are going to the hall'. There is also apparently no time left in the curriculum to visit the library. The school is a shadow of it's former self.

My children are both at academies (no LA schools in our area now) but both have seen an influx of newly qualified Canadian teachers. Are they cheaper to employ?

Pooka - would I be right in guessing the area you refer to might be Wandsworth?

Lazarus, newly qualified Canadian teachers in what subjects? Yes they will be cheap, but it's possible they're also being shipped in because the school can't actually find any British teachers to hire in shortage subjects like science and maths.

The problem with shipping in young inexperienced teachers, apart from the fact that they are inexperienced and need support, is that they tend to work here for a couple of years then go back home.

Of course the current government likes academies. They dont like state run things like education, healthcare etc. Everything should be subject to market forces.