academies - what's in it for the private sector?

[morningtoncrescent62]

I feel very ignorant having to ask this. But I really don't understand what's in it for the private sector companies and individuals who run academies and academy chains. They're not allowed to be run for profit, is that right? So apart from a few lucrative chief executive-type posts in the larger chains, what do individuals and groups get out of running them? Sorry if this is a very stupid question but I'd be very grateful if someone could explain it.

[disappoint15]

The 'freedoms' thing is a massive smokescreen. None of the countries that score highly in PISA (for whatever that's worth) have anything like the academies system - a disparate bunch of siloed providers, some with no educational experience at all. Any beneficial 'freedoms' in terms of curriculum could be given within the current LA model. As for competing for pupils, a) schools already do that b) increasing the PAN isn't physically possible in many schools and c) the ways in which some academies compete for pupils (banding tests, specialisms, religious denominations) appear to allow lots of room for

[disappoint15]

Sorry - on my phone and posted too soon. Lots of room for manipulation and competing for the 'most desirable' pupils rather than providing greater equality of opportunity for all pupils.

[BombadierFritz]

Shanghau/korea/singapore - its studying rote learning style from say 8am to 9pm as all the kids whose parents can afford it send them to after school school. There is also rampant corruption and cheating. Its not a system i want for my kids thank you v much. Oh yes, and suicide rates are appalling.

[BombadierFritz]

This academies thing is just a huge neoliberal anarchic 'break the system and see what happens' game by those in charge. Not their kids, not their problem.

[roundaboutthetown]

Yes, it does seem that Chinese curriculum freedom, at least, does appear to equal long school days involving hours of rote learning. I don't believe for a minute that Shanghai schools are all merrily following different teaching styles and curricula - I bet they all look very similar and teach from the same textbooks...

[roundaboutthetown]

It's interesting that no clear link has been found between the performance of a country's education system and private tuition when the nations at the top of the league tables seem to contain people who are known to use a lot of private tuition and who export their educational successes abroad when they enter other educational systems. I believe Chinese children are the highest performing group in the UK system, aren't they?

[whatwouldrondo]

It is complete nonsense to say that Chinese state schools enjoy a high degree of freedom. I am sure when those western inspectors turned up at the school gate those teachers had very firm instruction on what to say and what was to be shown. It will have been a political imperative to get Chinese schools to the top of the tables, why else count only one city, and that Shanghai, the most culturally digestible city in China after Hong Kong for westerners? A lot of the control is informal though, as is media censorship, and so not transparent. That is the way Chinese government and society works. It long ago ceased to be a totalitarian state in terms of formal controls, but keeps a tight rein through informal controls and daylight raids (much cheaper to keep control via fear.)

And culturally it is a world away. It is correct that with a history of over a thousand years of a meritocracy via an exam system based on rote learning that certain values have been instilled in Chinese culture, values that apply in the diaspora too. However it is as fundamental as language and the associated neural development. Literacy skills are acquired through learning thousands of characters, no phonics, very economic grammar, and no alternative but rote learning via pictorial memory, how you assess any sort of comparative literacy skills I don't understand, it's chalk and cheese.

And it is changing and the dynamic is a perceived need by parents for their children to acquire more diverse skills, not just English, but more creativity and critical thinking so that they are seeking a western style education, and paying for it. Go to even a very traditional Chinese city in the the heart of China like Chengdu or Chongqing (largest conurbation on the world ) and you will find every other private school called Etonian or Harrow (and in other cities it will actually be Harrow)

I do wish that these Inspectors would actually travel with someone who actually knows about Chinese society, culture and government

[MumTryingHerBest]

roundaboutthetown perhaps all UK schools should adopt the Abacus approach to maths ;-)

[prh47bridge]

Every system I have looked at has at minimum a core curriculum

That's the point. They have a minimum curriculum giving schools substantial freedom over the rest of the curriculum. We have a curriculum that is highly prescriptive and consumes almost all teaching time giving schools very little freedom over what is taught or how it is taught.

My view is that there is extensive academic research (not just the OECD-sponsored research I have referred to) showing a strong correlation between certain features of school systems and the performance. This correlation holds across a wide range of cultures, demographics, etc. It is therefore reasonable to believe that a school system in the UK including these features is likely to work and the research that has been carried out into the early academies confirms that they are achieving the expected outcome.

At the moment there is only one system on offer in the UK that includes these features. Academies have these features. LA controlled schools don't. That does not mean academies are the only system that could be implemented which included these features. If another system was on offer that, for example, gave more control to LAs without undermining the features associated with success I would support at least experimenting with such a system to see if it would work.

[prh47bridge]

I am sure when those western inspectors turned up at the school gate

What Western inspectors? If you really want to criticise the studies you should find out how they were carried out, not make up straw men to criticise.

[BombadierFritz]

Gosh. How could the uk govt reduce the nationalised centralised curriculum it imposes on english schools. If only i could think of any way at all that this centrally imposed system could be reduced by central govt. If only it were possible for the central govt to stop centrally controlling the centralised curriculum.

[roundaboutthetown]

I know, Bombardier - poor old DfE was forced kicking and screaming into producing the current, highly specific national curriculum and then exempting academy schools from any curriculum whatsoever, rather than just coming up with a core principles curriculum for all state schools. Those pesky teachers insisted on all these details. They want fronted adverbials! Unless they are academies!

[whatwouldrondo]

prh47 I wasn't meaning Inspectors in the sense of OFSTED, I was commenting on the views expressed by the OECD's Andreas Schleicher who has eulogised throughout the western press about the Shanghai education system. eg www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25090034 Within the academic community involved in the study of modern China there is considerable scepticism around the gap between his perceptions and the reality, as well as the methods and the sample of pupils used in the testing.

There was coverage in the Chinese Press, in Xinmin Wanbao, that the officials in Shanghai who oversaw the whole propaganda exercise were actually considering withdrawing from the PISA testing because they wanted to move away from the testing culture which whilst it enabled the pupils to sail through PISA test had many drawbacks as well. It quotes an official "“Shanghai does not need so-called ‘number one schools’. What it needs are schools that follow sound educational principles, respect principles of students’ physical and psychological development and lay a solid foundation for students’ lifelong development.” Though being the Chinese press this might well be posturing, gaining face at Schleicher's expense

[What1984]

Have a look at this...

schoolsweek.co.uk/perry-beeches-saga-who-was-involved/