Let councils run academies, says Policy Exchange

22 Sep 14
Councils should be allowed to establish and run academies, the Policy Exchange think-tank has recommended as it warned that a fifth of primary schools ‘could be set to fail’.

By Vivienne Russell | 23 September 2014

Councils should be allowed to establish and run academies, the Policy Exchange think-tank has recommended as it warned that a fifth of primary schools ‘could be set to fail’.

In a report published today, Policy Exchange said all primary schools should be converted to academy status over the next five years and for each school to join an academy chain by 2020.

It argued that the economies of scale offered by academy chains would allow teachers to focus on teaching and learning, while administrative tasks could be shared across the change.

Jonathan Simons, head of education at Policy Exchange, said: ‘A potential perfect storm of a new curriculum and assessment system and a demand for higher standards accompanied  by a decline in leadership and local authority capacity means that thousands of primary schools could be set to fail come 2016.

‘The question for government is how can the expertise, capacity and capability of the best schools, leaders and teachers be harnessed and magnified in order to achieve this. This report’s conclusion is that bringing schools together in academy chains is what is needed. And whilst there are some already moving in this direction, simply leaving it up to individual schools risks being too slow.’

The report also recommended that all remaining local authority secondary schools and special schools become academies over the same time period. Although there would be no obligation for these schools to join chains, they should be encouraged to partner with others.

Good and outstanding individual schools should be able to switch chains to encourage ‘competition and fluidity in the market’, Policy Exchange said. And primary schools should be encouraged to work closely with the early-years sector.

Commenting on the report, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said it was ‘absolutely right’ for primary schools to work together and share expertise. But the union criticised the suggestion that primary schools should be forced to convert to academy status.

‘Primary schools have not chosen to become academies, so the suggestion from Policy Exchange that they should be forced to become academies and join an academy chain amounts to removing the very choice and autonomy that the think-tank believes is so important,’ said Nansi Ellis, ATL assistant general secretary.

Leora Cruddas, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said Policy Exchange’s report was an important contribution to the debate about the future of primary schools.

‘We need to have the debate about what structural forms will ensure sustainability and improvement in the coming years. The number and size of primary schools means that different structures will be needed as schools become more autonomous.

‘Academisation is not a panacea, but we must consider solutions that build capacity and allow schools to work together, especially around improving teaching and learning. Allowing local authorities to “spin off” their own groups as learning trusts is an idea that merits further consideration.’

 

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