Pros and Cons of acadamisation

[Passportto]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a sensible paper from a business point of view.

What I've got so far is that there's now no financial advantage, possibly greater risk but that it gives you more freedom to embrace other income streams. Plus lots of political stuff on why it's bad thing.

Can anyone point me in the direction of something balanced and more comprehensive?

Anyone?

It depends. Academies aren't all the same.

Stand alone converter - probably the same as before (in my experience)

Weaker school taken over by massive chain - depends on the chain

Strong school setting its own small chain up - tends to stay the same and has the ethos of the main school

It all depends on the leadership and management in my experience. The major downside is that if there were leaders who has the tendancy to be ruthless, the academy status seems to give them more power.

Hmm, it seems to me that the main driver benefit in recent local conversions has been the empire building financial ambitions and yes, hunger for power of the head. But I'd love to read a properly researched article on why these MATs are a good thing.

Our MAT is a collaborative trust with all head teachers having a say on a proportion of the central budget used for improving teaching and learning. We have a very small central team, but have managed to enjoy a speech and language therapist which has made a huge impact in all our schools. We have teacher groups working collaboratively on assessment principles and moderation across all schools. We have office staff working on collective savings and standardised procedures to make everyone's life easier. We have a central manager to help with finance and one to help with all administrative procedures including governance, admin, admissions and place planning. All office staff, TAs and teachers feel supported in teams across all schools. We work collectively on new issues like GDPR and have a trust DPO. Staff have voluntary opportunities for CPD internally by acting up in positions of responsibility across the schools, giving them opportunities internally and externally for promotion. Our schools take part in collective activities, e.g. a Trust wide concert, sports competitions, etching.

*etc- not etching!

Oh, I loved the idea of etching competitions! What a disappointment !

me too! I think I'll suggest it.

I very much doubt that you will find any evidence of MATs being a “good” thing!