To think a new government should make academies more accountable?

[Horses4Courses1985]

It seems that these academies and trust heads are not answerable and accountable. Aibu to think there should be new legislation to ensure that the leaders (who are happy to take six figure salaries from the public purse) should be more directly accountable?

My ex-secondary school became an academy. There are so many directors who do nothing at all. Meanwhile some schools are making HODs etc redundant.

I fully agree op. The disgusting way my kid was treated by an academy and the fact there was nothing I could do shocked me. A maintained school could never have treated him as he was. Outright disability discrimination is just acceptable. They are run as business and don't put kids needs as highest priority and absolutely should be more accountable.

Because of academisation, schools have turned into businesses and CEOs of businesses earn large salaries. I think most teachers would say that they went into the profession because they wanted to teach children, work with people and see them develop knowledge and understanding, in preparation for working life. Not to run a business.

The CEOs aren’t generally educationalists and don’t understand what teaching people means. The bottom line is results, because results, in their opinion, equals success and success means more bums on seats and more money for those in charge. Taking account of different needs, strengths, abilities and interests is not on their agenda.

They should be accountable to explain how they are encouraging every child in their care to develop in the best way they can, according to their abilities and aspirations. But they aren’t and they won’t be.

Yes and it's no wonder schools have no money when the CEO's are being paid mega bucks.

Well, considering that removing responsibility for the schools from LAs was probably one of the biggest drivers for this policy, I’m not sure any government will really want to do that. Labour started the Academisation of schools and the Tories really picked it up and ran with it, so not sure either party can be trusted to do anything about it tbh because it probably suits them as it is.

There is an accelerating lawlessness where statistics are massaged to boost the rating and apparent performance of schools by marginalising and excluding our most vulnerable children (including involuntary home education). SEND and Equality laws are ignored with impunity. In other contexts we'd consider this corruption.

DDs school is having the opposite problem currently. The building needs structural work. If they were an Academy they could access funds from the government for it.
As they are still LA... they can't. And the council can't afford to do the repairs apparently.

The DofE is apparently looking into it...before Parliament was dissolved.

Whilst I was not/am not politically in favour of academisation, having been around for a long time in a role that involves working across LAs and MATs, both can be great or awful.

I currently work with an amazing MAT. It puts the pupils first. They have centralised lots of the leadership function, so there are highly paid curriculum leads, safeguarding leads and behaviour leads. They are amazing and provide fantastic support to all of the schools within the MAT. This is more cost effective than each school having their own, and the middle leaders in the school who are supported by the central team are accessing brilliant professional development. The model is really effective, and not dissimilar to what the LA provided (but not very well), in the area, in the 1990s.

I have worked with brilliant and awful LAs. I have worked with MATs that have been horrendous due to greed and/or financial mismanagement and either others who have been really efficient and financially effective.

I think the trouble is, both models can work well and badly. I think it comes down to the values, knowledge and skill of the executive teams.

Unaccountable MATs are a huge scandal that nobody seems to be talking about.

It’s great that they have autonomy then when they need to access funds etc, but public bodies like this need to be accountable too. The present model isn’t working.

Couldn’t agree more, they should be accountable for staff retention and well being too. There rate of teachers leaving the profession and those planing to leave is due to the ridiculous pressure placed on staff which in turn impacts on the pupils’ enjoyment of school. MAT leadership is in many cases very much micro management, using fear as a tool. The salaries of those higher up is, in some cases, astronomical despite cost cutting for those working directly with pupils, including TA’s who are woefully underpaid despite ever increasing responsibilities.

Absolutely - I was chair of governors of my local primary (I have left now) and the discussion raged on about academisation/joining a MAT etc.

I looked into several options in great detail and what came at me like an express train was the fact that not only are the top management bods accountable to no-one but their appointments go unscrutinised and are totally random.

It is the most undemocratic system you can imagine. And the biggest con is that when a school becomes an academy or joins a MAT they hand over all their physical assets, lock stock and barrel to the academy in perpetuity.

If the MAT or academy turns out to be a dud and does not live up to hopes, then the buildings and all other assets are gone for good.

I resigned because I felt the head was trying to push the governors down a wrong route.