Mossbourne Academies: investigations into alleged emotional harm and abuse. Why are needlessly strict academies unaccountable?

[ParentOfOne]

The Guardian has published a story https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/dec/07/london-academies-emotional-harm-mossbourne-schools-observer-investigation

about allegation of emotional harm and other forms of mistreatment at "one of the country's leading academy trusts", which runs the following schools in Hackney, North London: https://www.mossbourne.org/our-schools/

It is a follow up to a similar story, on the same topic, published a couple of weeks ago: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/nov/23/teachers-at-mossbourne-academy-in-hackney-screamed-at-and-humiliated-pupils-say-angry-parents

The previous story was based on testimonials from 30 parents, but now 70 parents, more than 30 former students and eight former teachers have come forward

"A dossier of allegations, shared with the Observer and sent to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, included Mossbourne teachers being trained in “healthy fear” and “screaming” sometimes “centimetres apart” from children’s faces, several reports of children fainting in line-ups while being shouted at, and children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) being punished unfairly and “pushed out” to other schools. Many former students said they had suffered mental health issues due to being afraid in school which had lasted long after they left."

Here there were some discussions about how notoriously strict these schools were https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5019841-mossbourne-community-academy-any-experiences but no one mentioned this kind of emotional abuse.

My opinion remains that:

• I hate how so many schools have become academies. That's a backdoor privatisation, with teachers being paid less, while the CEOs of these academy trusts earn more than many University vice-chancellors
• I hate that academies are de facto unaccountable to anyone
• It is false that academies do a better job. Some work well, some don't, but lack of transparency and accountability remain big issues. E.g. see academic research by the LSE https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/Assets/Documents/PDF/Research-reports/Academies-Vision-Report.pdf .
• Academies are simply good at showing Ofsted what they want. If this kind of s* happens in a school rated Outstanding, it means ratings are useless
• I am all for strict discipline, and I will absolutely stand by the school if they punish my child for misbehaving. But I absolutely dread needlessly draconian rules, put together by sexually repressed headteachers who didn't get enough love from their mums, and who get off on exercising this kind of authority to crush their students' spirit. I had made some examples here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5168466-how-common-are-detentions-at-secondary?page=9&reply=138524258 where I also talked about a secondary school in London banning bicycles and giving detentions to students caught cycling to school

This mythical ‘third way’ that doesn’t enforce rules but also gets great results doesn’t exist though.

There is a reason the vast majority of schools at the top of the Progress 8 tables (and therefore offering exceptional opportunities to students) use a similar approach to Mossbourne.

It’s fascinating that the poster who most supports this rigid, authoritarian model of education is also bizarrely rigid in their own responses. At this point, they are either arguing in bad faith or lack the capacity for even the most basic logical analysis.

In either case, there is nothing to be gained from engaging with them further.

Any sensible objective logical analysis shows that these schools deliver fantastic outcomes for the students who attend them, many of whom are disadvantaged.

Those who are ideologically opposed to the schools’ methods seem to be advocating a mythical ‘third way’ that delivers the same results at the same time as having no rules. No such model actually exists in reality.

Before following my own advice and ignoring this person, I’d like to point out that they basically just denied the existence of the vast majority of schools in the developed world.

@TreeSquirrel you seem unable to grasp a very simple concept, so here it is in very simple language:

Sensible firm rules reasonably applied =|= no rules at all.

These schools exist. My kids went to one. There are many, both in the UK and in other countries across the world. They could also exist in Hackney and I hope they will.

I know. It's mind-boggling. I can't even.

@Jodeg @TreeSquirrel

Thank you for your interesting posts. There is a balanced argument to have here. It's interesting that yet again families fairly new to an area want to change something that serves the local community well and has improved many children's lives.

If I didn't like a school's ethos I simply wouldn't send my children there. What must be pointed out is that lots of these Hackney parents work in the media and have used their connections to launch an attack on the school, which wreaks of vengeance.

@greenleathertrousers Please can you substantiate your view that this is an act of vengeance by a few media savvy Hackney parents, with evidence?

There are over 200 accounts, and most of these accounts are not detailed in press reports. I doubt the DfE would call the accounts "deeply distressing" without good reason.

I think it is right that there is going to be a thorough, independent review.

I'm not necessarily opposed to an independent review. Until that happens all of our claims, positive and negative, are unsubstantiated.

It just makes me sad that something that has been a positive influence (not perfect ) in an area where there are so many pitfalls for working class youth has been attacked in this way.

I think it is important to understand the racial and socioeconomic demographic of the complainants. Are they skewed towards white and rich? Or not?

Right now everything Labour is doing with schools is political. Nick Timothy, Tory politician, MP of West Suffolk, has an interesting article in the Telegraph this weekend. Michaela was brought up this week. It is important to keep a balance for the sake of all children, and not go too Tory and not too Labour - the PISA studies do speak for themselves. Labour should not reinvent the wheel but add pastoral support to what the Tories have otherwise built. If they don’t, we just risk playing political football with this generation of kids who are already harmed by Covid.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/08/british-school-high-scoring-academies-free-schools-michaela/

“According to government progress data published last week – which looks at the value added by a school – the best school in the country, for the third year in a row, is Michaela, the ground-breaking free school established by Katharine Birbalsingh. Like Michaela, the other top-performing schools use a knowledge-rich curriculum and strict discipline policies. Among free schools overall, 29 per cent score above 0.5 – “well above average” – compared to nine per cent of maintained schools. Nine per cent score above 1.0, compared to zero per cent of maintained schools.
As these statistics were published, there was radio silence from Bridget Phillipson and her Anti-Education Department, just as there had been the day before, when the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, an international comparative study, showed English schools had improved – despite the pandemic – and outperformed almost all Western countries.”

I'm not sure the Pisa results are the be all and end all. We've may have gone up slightly in the Pisa rankings but it hasn't improved the country's economy or productivity and there's ever-increasing inequality. What use is getting a particular score on your education system if it doesn't lead to better outcomes overall.

“Nick Timothy was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Aston, Birmingham, and at the University of Sheffield, where he gained a first in politics. He was the first member of his family to attend university”

The privately educated are not deprived or abused @Lunedimiel as a cohort, Far from it. The richer the family, the better the educational privilege- as numerous studies have shown.

@lavenderlou - an improvement in literacy and maths is always a good thing, in the purest way. If it has not translated to better job prospects and income equality, then look at further and higher education. However, compulsory state education has improved.

@greenleathertrousers I'm not necessarily opposed to an independent review

How generous of you - much obliged! I wasn't aware it was even much of an option to oppose an independent review into allegations of systematic abuse of children in the very environment meant to keep them safe, but, hey, one never stops learning...

It just makes me sad that something that has been a positive influence (not perfect ) in an area where there are so many pitfalls for working class youth has been attacked in this way.

Let me get this straight: not one, not 10, not 20, but more than 150 people, among parents former students and former teachers, all come forward with allegations of systematic emotional and psychological abuse.
And you are sad. But about what?
Not about the possibility that so many children may have been emotionally abused.
Not about the possibility that the school you appreciated may have produced good academic results to the detriment of children's mental health.
No, oh no...

You are sad that someone dares attack the school!!!!

@Araminta1003 if you think the lack of social mobility post secondary education is down to the higher/further education sector rather than to the entrenched remains of the class system in which a tiny majority of the UK population hold all the power and wealth, it's no wonder you lend credence to Nick Timothy. Entrenching privilege is after all the Tory way.

It is a good thing that the UK's standing in education has improved - but PISA rankings are not everything, and has been mentioned many, many times on this thread, not all schools are like Mossbourne. There are very many sensible moderate schools contributing to this improvement.

My DC were part of the Gove reforms. I support some of them - the teaching of grammar in primary has been helpful, although it has gone too far (fronted adverbials, anyone?). Insisting on the fundamentals of good spelling and mathematics are also important.

But beyond that there's so much nonsense. The insistence on the rote learning of endless facts and dates does not reflect practice in the real world in any way. In employment if we are uncertain of something, we look it up and we fact check it. Learning formulas off by rote is also a nonsense - the usefulness is in knowing which formula to apply in a given situation, and that requires a great deal more than just rote learning.

I am delighted to see that Mossbourne is under scrutiny. If they have nothing to hide, there will be findings to this effect. If they have been using poor and abusive practice, there will be change. Why would anyone have a problem with that unless they are dogmatically wedded to a particular ideology?

The fact that the privately educated were once brutalized in school and still did well for themselves doesn’t mean it was a good idea.

There have been some questions about whether the British custom of removing children of the elite from their parents for years on end, and raising them in an environment rife with violence and bullying, had a salutary effect on the British upper classes, and by extension the people of the Empire they came to govern.

I think Mossbourne practices should be investigated but I do not think there should be a witch hunt for “Tory” style schools. Because it seems to me that is the way things will go. And I feel that would not be in the best interests of children, and would just be more political point-scoring.

In addition, all this stuff about entrenched class privilege. Where I am sitting in London that is just quite outdated nonsense as most companies now just want the brightest and the best and given the huge immigration figures we have had, especially from Asian countries, it is now a global market anyway.
If privilege is still entrenched in politics, then maybe they need to look at their own systems.

I have 4 DC who are Covid Generation - now called the new Silent Generation. I absolutely do not want more educational upheaval for them. What I would support is more pastoral support across the board for all children and more extracurricular opportunities and sports in the curriculum. That is about it, I do not want them to dumb down the curriculum again because I do not feel we will be able to compete globally in the future. I do feel they need to look at how further education translates into actual jobs. Blaming stuff on class privilege won’t lead to better outcomes. The economy is unproductive and too many people are not happy and fulfilling their potential. Covid, screens, modern life are as much to blame as some schools. I am not sure about British class privilege because London at least, at the top level, is very international now in the younger generations.

If Mossbourne has had dubious practices they should chance them, move on and apologise but they should not lower their academic standards.

And then there is also the concept of “parent activism” on the rise. Not quite sure yet what to make of that one. Many schools are experiencing it, in the state and private sector.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-rise-of-parent-activism-and-how-schools-are-tackling-it/

Here is quite a balanced article on the rise of the parent activism.
So yes the school should be investigated, but it has to be balanced against all these factors. And surely Ofsted would have a paper trail of parental input from their inspections. At that point, all parents could have filled in the forms.