Every school to be an academy?

[CamboricumMinor]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35814215

Apparently this is expected in tomorrow's budget. I'm sure this isn't going to be a good move for school staff but what about the children? I'm not convinced at all.

Philoslothy - of course. And it's at the very least arguable that independently run schools will attract high calibre applicants not faced with all the downsides of teaching in the state sector that others have highlighted in this discussion.

And I don't believe that the funding issue alone is what sets Independent (capital I) schools apart. Things like a longer day, emphasis on classroom discipline, competitive sports, teaching around the curriculum are all things worthy of copying

Philoslothy - of course. And it's at the very least arguable that independently run schools will attract high calibre applicants not faced with all the downsides of teaching in the state sector that others have highlighted in this discussion

This is at best naive

Guerre what penalties exist now for schools who don't ensure the majority get 5 GCSE's?

I just can't understand how the Government thinks things will carry on without any Local Authorities.

How will school admissions work?
What happens when there is a flood / fire and suddenly 1500 pupils have to be rehoused?
Who will support the most vulnerable in our society - the dc with SEN/D; the dc who are newly arrived in the country, often traumatised by their lives over the previous years and often with no English? ; the dc with the least able parents?; the dc from chaotic family backgrounds
How will anyone get an EHC Plan in the first place ?
Who will support new HTs ?
Who will keep any checks on schools practice and policies?

Oh, there are so many questions, but I can't understand what any advantage would be.

homebythesea up thread you seemed to be saying that teachers should just accept reduced pay and conditions or leave, this seems at odds with wanting to attract the best

homes - I'm not sure you've had much experience of state schools or state school teachers.

Philoslothy - you said earlier "about a third of staff left my children's school in the summer. Quite a few of these were leaving teaching altogether. This is in a school that a few years ago did not have a high turnover"

I could say the same thing. I chose the school (local community, mixed area) precisely because I liked the heads ethos and she mentioned that they really did retain staff long term. That's all changed in the last 18months and nearly all nqts or those with 2 years teaching.

I'm v interested with your background and knowledge how worried you are for your children's education? Will you continue with the local schools? Do you think they'll be ok if you stimulate at home etc...

Guerre what penalties exist now for schools who don't ensure the majority get 5 GCSE's?

If schools don't meet floor standards they are forced to become academies and are placed under scrutiny. This is below the 50% mark

I'm v interested with your background and knowledge how worried you are for your children's education? Will you continue with the local schools? Do you think they'll be ok if you stimulate at home etc...

Our children range from pre schoolers to at university. We will keep them in state education - that is an active choice as we could send them privately. However I am very very worried, especially for the younger ones.

Thanks Philoslothy. (I've been on education threads under various guises but no longer teaching in schools). We wouldn't be able to afford private but could possibly homeschool. I don't really want to do that though.

I don't have the patience or ability to homeschool.

Our local secondary academy - allowed to covert from an independant school by Gove and had over £5million of debt wiped out for the company who ran it- tells parents of students with special needs they have no specialist staff to support them and points them in the direction of the comp.tellng them the comp have specialist staff and get much better outcomes for children with special needs. DH works at the comp and they get 3 or 4 every term with the same story. The academy never turns down someone who can afford the posh blazer and PE kit and is an able student.

Philoslothy the point I was making was that no employee's t's and C's are set in stone and neither should they be.

I feel out of choices. We have some independent schools that seem nice in the area (its so different no longer being in the system, I really don't know teachers in different schools to get the low down.) But as we don't have a high income its not possible. Our local school was lovely until it became a local trust. It just all seems to be going downhill.

I really don't understand this very well. Surely SEN children will still be protected by law and that's enforceable by the legal side. Tbh I do see many LA run schools getting Sen right so from personal experience that can't much worse anyway in some schools.

Unlike the government outsourcing it's IT - ( which is a good as impossible to ever bring back in house) you can't then offshore education. if it all goes wrong it could in theroy be brought back in house.

This is the age of short term corperate greed for sure. The U.K. Is running on hot air and smoke. I think if you was to take out of the people taking their cuts of profits of things being sold for vastly inflated sums, there's not much left really holding this economy up except fleecing tax payers.

I am seeing my company imploding right now as its very profitably for the managers and ceo right now to bleed it dry. By the time the company collapses the ceo will be a billionaire. That's how most things go these days. Who cares about tomorrow when you will have your pockets stuffed and be out the door?

Michael Wishaw's letter to Secretary of State for Education- his concerns about academy chains: last week.
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/506718/HMCI__advice__note_MAT_inspections____10_March_2016.pdf

2boys- see backforgood's comment above. How many children can actually get a statement EHC plan? SEN dept's backlog is months and months (despite there being a statutory timetable of when things have to happen by- I'm not blaming the staff there simply aren't enough of them to do the work!)

I'll declare before I post- I think Wilshaw is an utter tool.

sorry.

"one chief executive blamed parents for pupils’ poor attendance affecting pupils’ performance. "

How is this wrong? Poor attendance has an enormous impact of outcomes for children.

Our academy is halving the number of TAs in their entirety. If you've got less able kids or kids with additional needs but not with an allocated 1-1 less TAs is going to make a difference.

The fuckers have managed to find a back door and really are nearly there to destroy one whole generation hence buying time for their off springs. Disgusting disgusting. Where was it in their manifesto? Why is Osborne keeping it on the front ? I am speechless on this. And totally fuming.

So so depressing. My daughters go to 2 different LA primaries, both outstanding- why force them to waste time and money on a massive bloody bureaucratic restructure that no one wants? Effing politicians just can't help messing with things can they.

All the teacher's leaving the profession I k ow are excellent teachers, regularly rated outstanding, very popular, always doing extra stuff. These are people you'd want teaching your children.

home it would be lovely if all of that were true, but in my experience it's not. Most academies offer worse terms and conditions for teachers. Some apply basic employment law. Here's an example- there is no legal right to a day off for interviews. But teachers can't book annual leave. I deal with lots of cases where academies simply block teachers from moving schools or threaten to discipline them for taking a day off for interview. Another example is a reference. No legal right to one. But in teaching because of safeguarding you have to have a reference from your most recent Headteacher. Again I deal with plenty of cases where thus is refused. So the person can never work in teaching again.

It isn't a race to the bottom. 'other jobs' may have worse terms and conditions, UK all my friends who are in professional careers have similar standard terms and conditions or better. The only terms and conditions I know that are worse are for jobs rather than professions. But that is the government's aim to deproffesionalise.

Oh, there are so many questions, but I can't understand what any advantage would be?

A small number of people will get very rich off the privatisation of education. That's good enough for Dave and his chums.

So depressing reading this thread, how can the Government get away with this? I agree with those saying that its time to revolt. So so glad I don't live in England any more and my DD doesn't have to be educated there.

I found it a difficult decision to send Ds to an Independent school. One of the (smaller) pro's was "well, at least we'll be out of the way of whatever fucking-about could potentially happen to the state schools". I didn't expect the fucking-about to be so big, bad, or soon.
We made the right choice.

I wonder if we should look a little more positively (from a teacher's PoV)

I'm just about to come off mat leave back to a department where the hod is pregnant and the other staff member is supply. Doesn't that put me in a better bargaining position to say, get a promotion because they clearly need me back?

If academies are businesses, then surely teachers will have to change their mindset and become business savvy?

On the other hand schools do and will continue to employ nqts and teach first teachers as cheap labour. But my school is a 4 so can't do that.