Downsides to joining a Multi Academy Trust?

[mrsmootoo]

I'm a state primary school teacher. Our governors want us to join a local private school secondary MAT. They say it will improve the school's finances and staff CPD. And that pupils will benefit from access to better facilities. Am I right to be concerned? Not convinced about the access to facilities if lots of the schools want to use them. Also what about my T&Cs? They say things won't change, but can they guarantee my pension?

I'd imagine that the specifics will vary with each individual case but your legal employment rights can't be taken away. If it goes ahead make sure you find out what you"re legally entitled under TUPE

Depends on the trust & how controlling they are

A lot depends on the specific MAT.

Access to better facilities can happen. Many secondary schools have underused facilities that can be made available to other schools in the same MAT, but that doesn't guarantee it will happen in your case.

You are protected by TUPE so your terms and conditions will stay the same. As you will be changing employers, you will technically leave and rejoin the Teachers' Pension Scheme, but you will still be very much part of TPS.

Most of the so called benefits of academies are red herrings. Sharing facilities, pooling resources and CPD can be done anyway.

Schools can be better off because they are not top sliced for local authority services... but schools still need most of those services so still pay for them somehow.

Academies, especially MATs are about control and empire building especially where secondary is at the top of the pyramid. As a primary school you'll lose all your autonomy, have a local governing body which is virtually powerless and be told what to do by secondary leaders with no primary expertise.

There is no evidence that academies improve outcomes for children.

Also, re: employment rights, they can break all the rules with impunity. Ditto the rules about exclusions and SEND. There is nobody locally to police any if it. They are answerable only to the DfE.

I would resist if I were you!

It very much depends on the trust.
Some small MATs with like-minded schools don't look or feel much different after conversion, other MATs aren't very good and seem to be an exercise in egos and bloated leadership.

Curious that the MAT is led bya private secondary; I didn't know that private schools could join MATs?

Are there any primary schools in the MAT already? If so, worth asking them how it's going. If not, press as to whether there is any actual primary expertise at MAT level... you really don't want to be ordered about by a leadership team that don't understand how primaries work.

The heads of 2 schools I know who were talked into being academies say they were massively lied to by the MAT. They now have to use certain providers/suppliers and pay vast sums annually they didn’t have to before.

One has taken legal advice to try to leave the academy but apparently it’s not possible!

Don't believe any of the promises made by the MAT. In my last teaching role the primary went through all this, e.g. was told by the LA to find an academy sponsor. The head was great and thought he was carefully selecting the best of a bad bunch. The MAT made all the promises about not changing anything but in the end it all turns out to be a load of bollocks. The staff were all TUPE-ed across but it wasn't long before any new staff joined on shitty terms and conditions and the restructures began.

@45isold

Most of the so called benefits of academies are red herrings. Sharing facilities, pooling resources and CPD can be done anyway.

Schools can be better off because they are not top sliced for local authority services... but schools still need most of those services so still pay for them somehow.

Academies, especially MATs are about control and empire building especially where secondary is at the top of the pyramid. As a primary school you'll lose all your autonomy, have a local governing body which is virtually powerless and be told what to do by secondary leaders with no primary expertise.

There is no evidence that academies improve outcomes for children.

Also, re: employment rights, they can break all the rules with impunity. Ditto the rules about exclusions and SEND. There is nobody locally to police any if it. They are answerable only to the DfE.

I would resist if I were you!

There are MATs and MATs. Some give the local governing body a lot of power, others don't.

I would say the evidence that academies improve outcomes is mixed rather than that there is no evidence at all.

An MAT cannot break all employment rules with impunity. Of course, it requires anyone who is mistreated to go to tribunal. As for exclusions and SEND, LA-controlled schools routinely break the rules on these. That is not unique to academies.

Academies are not a silver bullet. Some are good, some not so good. But I certainly wouldn't tar all MATs with the same brush.

I am on the local governing body of a school in a MAT and I certainly don’t think it’s the case that we are powerless. We do not have any control over financial matters as that is all controlled centrally by the MAT - achieving economies of scale. The school’s finances are in a very good position compared to other local schools I know of. There is also a huge amount of knowledge sharing; working with other academies in the trust and CPD benefits. My experience so far has been extremely positive.