By Lucy Phillips
26 May 2010
Legislation that will allow schools to instantly opt out of local authority control has been criticised by unions and academics.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has written to all primary and secondary schools in England inviting them to become academies – schools that receive funding directly from Whitehall and are free from local council controls. The move followed the introduction of an academies Bill in the Queen’s Speech on May 25.
The new legislation enables all schools in England and Wales judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – around 600 secondaries and 2,000 primaries – to be fast-tracked into becoming academies. Other schools will be allowed to apply for the status without the current requirement to consult local authorities.
Schools are widely expected to take up their new rights, with many reopening as academies in September. This will guarantee a funding increase of 7%–10% that is currently held back by local authorities for central services such as teacher support, human resources, pay roll and legal services.
But Chris Husbands, professor of education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, warned that this would leave local authorities with ‘a significant shortfall in their in-year funding’, and fewer resources for schools that needed most help. ‘A likely consequence is that it increases disparities between schools performance,’ he said.
Husbands added that schools admissions would become ‘extraordinarily complicated’ as individual academies took charge of their own systems, instead of a centralised one run by councils. There was a ‘serious threat’ of a period of sharper competition between schools, he warned.
Teaching unions reacted angrily to the reforms, deemed the biggest shake-up in the education system for decades. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers branded the plans ‘irresponsible’. The National Union of Teachers said it was a ‘retrograde step, which will cause social division and planning gridlock, and drive a bulldozer through properly accountable local authority provision of education’. The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers added that the coalition was attempting to ‘disenfranchise democratically elected local councils’.
The Local Government Association Labour Group accused the new government of ‘marginalising councils’, although Margaret Eaton, Conservative chair of the whole LGA group, said local authorities were offering to play ‘a valuable part’ in the new structure.
‘Councils are perfectly placed to be the watchdogs of school standards, and… can help support schools to get better all the time,’ she said.
An education and children’s Bill, coming into effect in the autumn, was also introduced in the Queen’s Speech. It will give teachers more influence on the curriculum and new rights to tackle bad behaviour. A pupil premium will be introduced to weight funding towards the poorest children.
Both Bills are paving the way for ‘free schools’, a flagship Tory policy that gives charities and parents in England more powers to set up state schools. An education white paper is expected in August.
Gove said the changes would increase standards across all schools and reduce the gap in educational attainment between the richest and poorest children. He said the academies expansion would help free teachers from bureaucracy.
The new laws came as the coalition announced that spending on schools, Sure Start and 14–19 education would be protected from cuts this year. But the Department for Education will still be expected to produce £607m of the £6.2bn total savings announced for 2010/11 by the chancellor on May 24. Significant savings are expected to be made from cutting quangos, including the schools technology agency Becta.
26 May 2010
Legislation that will allow schools to instantly opt out of local authority control has been criticised by unions and academics.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has written to all primary and secondary schools in England inviting them to become academies – schools that receive funding directly from Whitehall and are free from local council controls. The move followed the introduction of an academies Bill in the Queen’s Speech on May 25.
The new legislation enables all schools in England and Wales judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – around 600 secondaries and 2,000 primaries – to be fast-tracked into becoming academies. Other schools will be allowed to apply for the status without the current requirement to consult local authorities.
Schools are widely expected to take up their new rights, with many reopening as academies in September. This will guarantee a funding increase of 7%–10% that is currently held back by local authorities for central services such as teacher support, human resources, pay roll and legal services.
But Chris Husbands, professor of education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, warned that this would leave local authorities with ‘a significant shortfall in their in-year funding’, and fewer resources for schools that needed most help. ‘A likely consequence is that it increases disparities between schools performance,’ he said.
Husbands added that schools admissions would become ‘extraordinarily complicated’ as individual academies took charge of their own systems, instead of a centralised one run by councils. There was a ‘serious threat’ of a period of sharper competition between schools, he warned.
Teaching unions reacted angrily to the reforms, deemed the biggest shake-up in the education system for decades. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers branded the plans ‘irresponsible’. The National Union of Teachers said it was a ‘retrograde step, which will cause social division and planning gridlock, and drive a bulldozer through properly accountable local authority provision of education’. The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers added that the coalition was attempting to ‘disenfranchise democratically elected local councils’.
The Local Government Association Labour Group accused the new government of ‘marginalising councils’, although Margaret Eaton, Conservative chair of the whole LGA group, said local authorities were offering to play ‘a valuable part’ in the new structure.
‘Councils are perfectly placed to be the watchdogs of school standards, and… can help support schools to get better all the time,’ she said.
An education and children’s Bill, coming into effect in the autumn, was also introduced in the Queen’s Speech. It will give teachers more influence on the curriculum and new rights to tackle bad behaviour. A pupil premium will be introduced to weight funding towards the poorest children.
Both Bills are paving the way for ‘free schools’, a flagship Tory policy that gives charities and parents in England more powers to set up state schools. An education white paper is expected in August.
Gove said the changes would increase standards across all schools and reduce the gap in educational attainment between the richest and poorest children. He said the academies expansion would help free teachers from bureaucracy.
The new laws came as the coalition announced that spending on schools, Sure Start and 14–19 education would be protected from cuts this year. But the Department for Education will still be expected to produce £607m of the £6.2bn total savings announced for 2010/11 by the chancellor on May 24. Significant savings are expected to be made from cutting quangos, including the schools technology agency Becta.
