Academy Question Time
The Government’s city academy programme has been mired in controversy since its launch in March 2000.
The Government’s
City academy programme has been mired in controversy since its launch in March 2000. Ministers maintain that the programme, which replaces failing schools in inner-city areas with new institutions part-funded by sponsorship, is successful and on course to deliver. But there are question marks over their academic performance, the role of sponsors and even the legality of the programme. Here, we examine the key issues.
What are academies?
Academies are all-ability schools established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups in partnership with central Government and local education authorities. They are set up in areas of disadvantage, replacing an existing school or to provide additional school places. Academies are seen as playing a significant part in regeneration and part of their remit is, once they become successful, to share expertise and facilities with other schools and the wider community.
How many are there?
Twenty-seven academies have opened and more than 80 are under way. The target is 200 academies open or in the pipeline by 2010. The Department for Education and Skills says academies are popular and over-subscribed and that, in 75 per cent of cases, they are replacing schools which were in special measures, had serious weaknesses or were of serious concern, according to Ofsted.
Closures
Some schools have been closed and replaced by academies despite not being officially ‘failing’. Tamworth Manor in Peckham is being turned into an academy despite recent improvements in GCSE grades - it is claimed to be the fastest improving school in the borough - and in the teeth of parental opposition. The local authority argues that the school, despite its improvements, remains in the bottom eight per cent of schools in London and therefore must be replaced in order to improve children’s education prospects.
Who pays?
Academies are entitled to State funding of up to £25million for capital costs but that is triggered by £2 million guaranteed from individual sponsors. Running costs are met in full by the DfES. There was criticism of the funding structure this year when it emerged that some sponsors had yet to write their cheques, even though the academies they were purportedly sponsoring were already under way.
Who are the sponsors?
Contrary to popular perception, sponsors are not drawn exclusively from the world of business. The Church of England is fine-tuning proposals for around 25 academies and the Roman Catholic Church is similarly enthusiastic. Six academies are being supported by the United Church Schools Trust, an independent schools charity. Universities have also got in on the act and three are preparing to fund academies as partners with other education bodies. Business leaders funding academies include figures from the worlds of property, City finance and advertising. Unease over the role of business in the teaching and governance of academies is exemplified by reaction to Peter Vardy’s plans to establish a third city academy. The Christian businessman, who built a fortune with a chain of car dealerships, has funded two so far and Creationism - as an alternative to the theory of evolution - is on the curriculum at both. Proposals for the third were abandoned after protests from parents.
Results so far?
One of the academy programme’s strongest selling points has been that they will raise standards compared with the schools they replace, the majority of which had a poor track record at GCSE, according to the DfES. The Government says that the improvements are happening. Many of the academies have had good Ofsted reports and “have achieved substantially better GCSE results than predecessor schools.” A study for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust also found that standards were improving in academies faster than other secondary schools. However, research by Edinburgh University found that the number of pupils achieving the benchmark of five GCSE A*-C grades has increased by the equivalent of just three pupils in the first 11 academies to open or 0.2 per cent. Terry Wrigley, author of the Edinburgh report, also said that some academies were diverting children to vocational GNVQs - equivalent to four GCSEs in league table terms - rather than GCSEs, in order to boost their league table standing.
Legal challenges
While the Government has maintained it is parents who are the most vocal supporters of the academies programme, challenges have been lodged with the High Court by parents in London and Kent. Separate groups have opposed proposals to build academies in their areas on the grounds that, because academies are legally independent and not subject to the same education laws as other State schools, parents and children are being deprived of some of their human rights. The DfES has rejected the claims.
What do other politicians say?
When he was Shadow Education Secretary, Tory leader David Cameron (above left) welcomed Government plans to accelerate the academies programme and urged ministers to go further in giving schools more freedom to work with business and other organisations and to give heads greater autonomy than the current programme allows. Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman (above right), is unimpressed by ministers’ claims for academies. “The truth is that their performance is much less impressive than the government has spun,” she said. “Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being poured into an unproven scheme.”
Conclusion
City academies are here to stay. Despite the controversy they have generated, it is unlikely that the Government could afford the greater embarrassment of abandoning one of its flagship education projects. However, academies are seen as a model for the trust schools, plans for which form a major plank of the Education Bill. Their negative public image and the controversy that has dogged the programme could be used by opponents to undermine the Government’s plans.
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/academies/what_are_acade mies/?version=1