Guest post: Nicky Morgan - "Why academisation is best for our schools"

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As parents, we all want the best for our children. We want to make sure they have access to the best opportunities and to help them grow up into well-rounded adults. Making sure that our children have a high quality education is a key part of that.

I want to outline exactly what academisation means and why I truly believe this is the best way forward for our schools. Our children only have one shot at receiving the best education and I am committed to ensuring this happens as swiftly as possible.

We need to put our trust into the hands of the people that know best how to run our schools - the teachers - and the academy system does just that. tells you more about what an academy is. It gives schools greater autonomy to make the decisions that are right for their community and pupils. After all, we have the finest generation of teachers ever and being part of an academy helps put the power back in their hands.

The most recent results show that the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2 in primary academies has risen by 4%, from 67% in 2014 to 71% in 2015. Additionally, when it comes to secondary, it's a similar story with converter academies which are performing 7.2% above the national average, with 64.3% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs.

However, a dynamic school system where all schools are academies is just one part of a much wider plan to improve our education system which I set out yesterday in our white paper.

It is every parent's right to know their child is in an excellent school no matter where in the country they live. I am confident that this move will guarantee a higher school standard with each academy held to account for the performance of their pupils.

Ultimately, I am committed to making it easier for you as a parent to play an even more active role in your child's education. In essence, I want to put young people and parents first – something that might sound obvious, but the truth is that for too long parents have been an afterthought in our education system. We want you as parents to have a much stronger voice in what happens to your child during their school years, because we know that you want the very best for your child.

So how are we doing that? Firstly, I am well aware that the education system can appear complex to many parents. I am dedicated to changing this once and for all, and putting the control firmly back in your hands. As a result of this, I plan to introduce a new, online Parents Portal from as early as next year. This portal will enable parents' access to key information and allow you to support your child's learning.

Alongside this, we have changed the curriculum and the way that students will be assessed. This will help to raise standards and make sure that your child leaves school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. It is imperative that every child fulfils their potential, and this includes stretching the most able pupils.

More young people will also study the EBacc - a combination of maths, English, two sciences, a humanity and a language - up to the age of 16. And the exams and qualifications young people are awarded will set a new international gold standard that is respected by employers, helping them to succeed in our increasingly global world.

I am a firm believer that an exceptional education transforms children's futures and everything outlined in this White Paper is committed to ensuring that parents and pupils come first. Our goal must always be to ensure every single child leaves school with the best education and the opportunity to excel in adult life. I believe that together, we can achieve that goal.

I helped write my old school's Performance Management policy.

It was completely possible to shaft someone (you'd just give them a slightly below average y11 group: not the bottom set, where no target was above a D, there were only 10 kids & you had a TA...no, you'd stuff them up with a group of 15 ne'er do wells, all of whom, on paper, could get a C).

However, it was still rooted in something tangible - if you hit your three annual targets (good results, developing something departmentally, eg a new unit of work, & a whole school contribution eg producing the school play or organising a series of extracurricular events) you progressed up the scale.

Now it seems HTs can grant or withhold 'accreditation' at will. Or more likely at the behest of market forces - better accredit the physics teacher & all the maths department, but sod history - if she walks there'll be another one along in a minute.

Add in budget constraints & no, this does not look like a fabulous opportunity for heads to shower financial blessings on their teaching staff.

Now it seems HTs can grant or withhold 'accreditation' at will.

Unless of course, successful accreditation of NQT's becomes part of the HT performance management targets?

I can see what you are saying, that it leaves the system open to abuse by unscriupulous HT, but in that case, the Unions would be able to present evidence to the Goverment to support amending the process so that it is NOT dependent on the HT with a financial stake in the outcome.
Lets hope that enough ethical teachers remain in the profession and progress to HT's so that this doesn't become an issue.

But it's not just unscrupulous Heads that are the issue. It's money, too.

There is already considerable anecdotal evidence in teaching circles of academy chains staffing with bright eyed NQTs, making excuses not to agree progression for them, & hiring more NQTs to cover the churn as young teachers drop out/bugger off abroad. It saves an awful lot of money not having experienced teachers cluttering the place - I'd cost the same as an NQT + a TA, for example.

Dragging the 'accreditation' process out over several years would seem likely to exacerbate this situation.

Memo to self: next every time a politician comes on for a web chat, copy and paste it into a word document afterwards. That way they won't be able to delete the evidence of their lies at a later date

Fireflies. As the only person in this thread who has been slightly not anti academies, can I ask you a direct question:

Do you actually think forcing all school to become academies is a good idea that will improve the education of children?

And does anyone else in the whole of Mumsnet/ the world think all schools becoming academies is a positive step (actually good, not just 'won't make a difference')?

Yes please do that pretty!

Do you actually think forcing all school to become academies is a good idea that will improve the education of children?

It might be. We just don't know, I think that is the point that so many people have already made. But something has to change. It can't stay as it is - as has been pointed out, professionals are leaving in droves, standards are falling and we as a nation are not providing our DC's with an internationally competitive education.

Do I agree with the current government ideology that LA's are not good value for money? Yes. Based on personal experience. Overall there are more wasteful, failing LA's than effective, good value ones.

So, it makes sense to me that whatever is put in place to replace the current education system follows that ideology.

It may work, It may not. But that can be said about whatever is put in place. Changes to the LA model may not work, either. Even emulating models from other cultures aren't guaranteed because so many other variables are different here.

I'm willing to give this a go, and do the best I can to make it work - rather than fight to keep what we have, which isn't working overall, even though there are pockets of very good practice.

Its all utter crap. Academisation benefits no one except the fat cats earning hundreds of thousands that should be going into our children's schools

Academisation benefits no one except the fat cats earning hundreds of thousands that should be going into our children's schools

So are you suggesting that neither LA's nor academies run schools? Because the LA currently gets the money that the Academy Trust will when the school coverts.
The CEOs of LA's also earn £hundreds of thousands.

It actually disgusts me more and more that politicians avoid answering questions and actually walk off from interviews stating what they came to talk about - Nicky Morgan did that this week - these people are members of a democratically elected party who are surely answerable to the public. Why the hell do we put up with them slithering around not answering questions. It's a disgrace. They should be told they either answer the question posed or face the sack.

Hi, Out of lurking mode.
This is a load of old PR Tosh written by a Whitehall press spokesperson, not NM herself.

Disclaimer: I have no issue with Academies as such, they can be as good as any school given the right conditions - and there are plenty of excellent schools out there that are academies.
I have a friend who works at a high level in the management of a loca Academy chanin , and is as dedicated as the next person .

However with evidence mounting from several respected sources, including the head of Ofsted, that Academies should not be seen as the panacea for all the ills of the education system, it is infuriating the DfE continues to totally ignores it!

Clearly the Tory agenda was to convert a critical mass of schools

also using the threat of conversion for 'failing schools' to academies was designed to implant the idea that the only way to succeed is to be an academy.
The public and school governors got wise, and that didn't happen. and, now they want to force it to happen!

Before, there was at least a choice . Now, there is none.

Another intolerable aspect of all of this is the continued destruction of the teaching profession.

Rather than admit that decades of tinkering by waves of politicians and whitehall 'experts' who want to be known as the 'saviour of british education' have seriously damaged our education system, they distract by demonizing Teachers.

In order to prove to the world that teachers are the root of all evil, huge amounts of scrutiny have been imposed, leading to astonishingly unmanageable workloads - that essentially undermine any progress that is being made.

Yet the public by and large still think Teachers knock off at 3:30pm, rest up until 9am, and take an hour lunch break, enjoy extended holidays, and get paid £60k a a cushy pension. Therefore, anyone who complains about the workload or conditions - are just 'whingers who don't know the real world!'.
It's soul destroying, especially when teachers are regularly working through weekends, past midnight, and in schools at 7am - even when they have kids of their own that oftne barely get a look in, and those long holidays are spent tidying, meeting, preparing, and marking, and generaly catching up.
Many are ill because they build up stress during the term that all comes out when theys top for a few days!

Teachers that taught 20-30 years ago see the classroom and profession as unrecognisable today.

I keep hearing, from both recently qualified and retired alike, that teaching is a horrible profession now and that nobody should consider it as a profession or else get their head examined.

The high churn of teaching staff will continue, and an army of supply teachers are helping paper over the cracks. (Staffed by the very same teachers that are fleeing full time classroom work too !) Schools will continue to bleed funds covering those costs, until something genuinely positive happens to the entire education system. THis white paper does nothing to solve any of the genuine issues facing education today.

Increasing evidence of a crisis in recruitment continues, yet the best the government can do is offer a weak denial it even exists.

It seems they want to solve this problem by making it easier for anyone to qualify as teachers. Unless the workload reduces, they will still find it hard to cope, and the churn will continue.

A lot of the government's focus is on international tests, which are topped by Asian education systems.

What they fail to acknowledge in the rush to compare, is the significantly different cultures they are born from, teach to pass tests rather than to give an all round education. An article liked here gives a fuller picture, even calling the PISA test essentially unfit to be used as a tool to compare education systems:

www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/good-bad-and-ugly-dimensions-chinese-education

So, we went from an imperfect system, to a potentially broken one, and this needs to be stopped in it's tracks. Teachers and now parents feel helpless, and the TOries are set on their course to dismantle public education.

Both petitions signed.
Do your bit Mumsnetters.

"Online portal" that's a fancy, trying to be exciting, name for (another) website, right?
This is so lame. the brilliant team who built and run the excellent gov.uk website know about these these things. They have a phrase "no more portals".
Academisation sounds like privatisation to me.

The head of our local academy, as part of their year 7 parents speech, includes a section that I will paraphrase

All children will adhere to our rules
All parents will support the school in implementing our rules
Any parents that won't support the school 100% can piss off and take their child somewhere else

-but the majority of the local schools are part of the academy chain -so what choice do we have?

Children with SEN that's special educational needs Nikki incase you are unaware are not catered for

One parent with a child with SEN, attending the local primary school, went to visit the school, asked what provision they had to meet her child's needs and was told 'we don't have children like that in our school'

Read into that what you will

But something has to change. It can't stay as it is - as has been pointed out, professionals are leaving in droves, standards are falling and we as a nation are not providing our DC's with an internationally competitive education.
Pretty, where do you get this from? Because a lot of the data stating that our standards are falling compared to other countries has been discredited here:
www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/faqs#faq_international-block-1

Regarding teachers leaving in droves, this is because of endless changes and meddling and micro-managing by DoE, and lack of respect for the profession (not helped by Michael Gove calling teachers 'the blob'). I really doubt forced Academisation will help this in any way.

So whilst I agree something needs to change, this ill-thought out White Paper is most definitely not the answer.

Re the new teaching qualification and whether this could be abused by unscrupulous heads. I think this could happen. Our school used to have a terrible Head, he was an Executive Head of a few schools and brought in like he was some sort of Demi-God to save us all. The parents very quickly saw through all the bluff, he was all talk no action and seemed to spend all his time shut in an office. He had no interest in the Arts. Thanks to experienced Senior teaching staff, a strong Governing Body (including some very experienced parent governors) and intervention of the LA, he was eventually 'moved on' and it turned out he had been bullying staff at another school. I dread to think what the school would have turned into had he stayed. Definitely not the happy nurturing environment it currently is under our new fantastic Head.
If the school was an Academy, the LA wouldn't have had any involvement, the Governing Body would have been totally different (no parent representatives) and his bluff would probably have gone down very well with a Trust of bankers and supermarket bosses .... This is the kind of thing that really worries me.

Because a lot of the data stating that our standards are falling compared to other countries has been discredited here

It may well have been, but that's not going to help the young people leaving our education system who will be judged by employers based on the country in which they were educated.
The Government can either spend time and money discrediting the international league tables, or it can try and improve the countries performance within them.

Nicky Morgan, you are either very brave or very foolish to believe turning education into a business is a good idea. You are downright stupid for thinking parents will believe you.

In reply to Pretty about LAs:

My good friend is a Director of Education for a LA. He most certainly does not earn hundreds of thousands.
He is fully accountable for all budgetary decisions and is under constant stress from it. And to suggest he is is some ivory-tower CEO is ludicrous - he is in his schools daily, meeting with heads, governors, and other stakeholders.

Which is exactly the point, leccy - not all LA's are led by ivory tower CEO's on 6-figure salaries, and not all Academy Trusts will be led by a faceless, fat cat board.

It will be the decision of existing Governing Bodies which MAT they decide the school will join. Forward thinking schools are already in discussions with potential sponsors. It will be the schools that bury their heads in the sand and ignore the proposals who will be left with very little choice.

Lord Harris, Tory Lord in charge of Harris academy chain, donated £1/2 million to the Conservatives
Stanley Fink, as above donated over 2 million
John Nash, yet another academy chain owner donated £300K
Alan Lewis in charge of a Bradford academy donated around £400K
Not to mention the Knighthoods that have been dished out to these parasites.

They may not be faceless but they are fat cats.

Map showing distribution of petition respondees. Not one single authority is unrepresented. Strength of feeling goes far and wide.

Over 83k signatures now which is great. Big push needed to reach 100K for a Parliamentary debate.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124702

From TeacherROAR facebook:
"Another way the academy system can fight bureaucracy is by paying consultants. For example, the Griffin Schools Trust paid £800,000 to an education consulting company, because it’s important to take advice on how to eliminate expensive bureaucracy. And to make absolutely certain the Griffin Schools Trust was receiving the best possible advice, £700,000 of the money was paid to a company owned by the same people that ran the Griffin Schools Trust. The money was apparently initially to repay work done by those people to set up the school and later in lieu of their salaries, but all the same, it’s best to take advice off someone you trust – and who do you trust better than yourself? You don’t get innovative measures like that taken in schools run by a stodgy old local authority."

I'm actually pretty disappointed that Mumsnet, you have allowed this 'guest post' which is nothing more than Tory propaganda. That lot seem to think if they shout it loud enough and long enough, us thicko plebs will simply lap it up, tails wagging, dothing our caps to their superior knowledge.
What this amounts to is a further attempt to erode local government, and to privatise education.
Stop telling us that Academies will change education in this country. The truth is you have no idea what to do.
Why is that?
You and the rest of your Tory cronies dont really think that state education works.
You don't actually give a shiny shit about state education, and your answer is to turn each state school into a private little business, all of which will eventually be taken over by some dodgy carpet billionaire with no accountability for what they do.
Shame on you Nicky Morgan and Mumsnet for assisting her.

Wow - £1.6million paid out in 2014/15 in severanve pay by academy chains.
Harris Federation alone spent £284,000 TO PAY OFF OUTGOING STAFF.

Meanwhile, my own highly deprived state secondary has had its highly successful Literacy-driven summer school pulled after 15 years as funding has been cut and we cannot afford to rent the PFI building for a week in the summer holidays.

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/15/golden-goodbye-payments-academy-soar-harris

"You don’t get innovative measures like that taken in schools run by a stodgy old local authority."

Oh, you'd be surprised. I know of at least three Company Directors on LA payroll whose private companies have contracts with the LA.
Never mind the outrageous costs of consultants - hired in to replace the staff who were made redundant.

No system is perfect.