to an academy? Issues for governors The Academy Option Academy - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Should Friesland School convert to an academy? Issues for governors

The Academy Option  Academy conversion involves structural change in the school’s status and is an irreversible process which affects students, parents, the wider community and employees.  Academisation involves structural change in the school’s status as an employer.  Friesland School is currently maintained by Derbyshire County Council, although as a Foundation School the governing body is the employer.  As an academy, the school would be directly maintained by the Secretary of State for Education.  Academisation has been heavily promoted to schools by the Government since 2010, as an option which provides them with greater freedoms and flexibilities than remaining as a local authority maintained school.  It is precisely these freedoms and flexibilities which threaten the future success of Friesland School. 2

The Two Counties Trust  The NASUWT understands that some of the Friesland governors are promoting academy conversion because it means that the school will join the Two Counties Trust, which is a local multi-academy trust (MAT).  However, the governing body should understand that there is no guarantee that, should Friesland School join the Two Counties Trust it will remain with the Two Counties Trust, or indeed that the Two Counties Trust will have any lasting future.  A significant feature of the academies sector is the failure of MATs because of low standards or because of financial issues.  When this occurs, the Department for Education (DfE) tries to find alternative MATs for the affected schools. However, there is no guarantee that the DfE will be able to do so.

System Failures  There are now numerous examples of failed academies:  The Wakefield City Academies Trust which recently closed down because it could not improve educational outcomes for its pupils.  The Education Fellowship Trust handed back all of its schools to the DfE in 2017 following DfE concerns about poor outcomes for pupils, governance and financial management. Some of its schools are still in limbo, without a sponsoring academy but unable to rejoin their local authority.  The NASUWT believes that academisation would introduce a wholly unnecessary risk into the future of Friesland School which can easily be avoided. The school can, and should, continue to be maintained by the local authority.  What are the myths which the academies lobby promotes about the academy sector?

Myth 1 – Academies benefit teachers  One key academy freedom is that academies are freed from the national pay and conditions of service for teachers. National pay and conditions of service are statutory for teachers in local authority maintained schools, but not for teachers in academies.  Academies have the freedom not to follow this framework and to worsen teachers’ terms and conditions as a result.  The DfE’s own data indicates that teachers’ salaries are lower in the academy sector than in the maintained school sector.  The DfE’s most recent School Workforce Census data indicates that :  in the secondary phase, classroom teachers’ salaries are £700 lower in academies than in local authority maintained schools;  in the primary phase, classroom teachers’ salaries are £1,400 lower in academies than in local authority maintained schools.  In the academy sector, just 50.1 per cent of overall expenditure is on teachers. 5

Myth 2 – Academies raise standards  It is not the case that academies raise standards. The DfE’s own data shows that standards in academies are lower than those in maintained schools.  The DfE’s official statistics show that:  at Key Stage 4 over half of MATs had Progress 8 scores that were below the national average for state-funded mainstream schools;  approximately two thirds of MATs (66 per cent) had an EBacc entry figure which is below the national average for state-funded mainstream schools;  76 per cent of MATs had an ‘ EBacc attainment at grade 5/C or above’ rate which was below the national average for all state-funded mainstream schools. 6

Myth 2 – Academies raise standards  Friesland was graded by Ofsted as a ‘good’ school at its last inspection. Ofsted made the following comments about Friesland School in its last inspection report, on 13 – 14 May 2015:  ‘Students feel very safe in school. Their parents agree.  Teaching is good. High expectations and clear explanations help students to learn well. Teachers check students’ understanding regularly so that they can adapt their lessons, when necessary.  Students’ attitudes to learning are overwhelmingly positive. They appreciate the skill and care their teachers show and they work hard.  Students make consistently good progress… attainment and rates of progress have risen markedly since the last inspection.’  The NASUWT asks the governing body to accept that these achievements of Friesland School, identified by Ofsted, will be put at risk if the school were to convert to an academy and join a MAT. 7

Myth 2 – Academies raise standards  Many local schools, which became academies when they were graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, have seen standards fall since academy conversion:  Heanor Gate Science College converted to academy status as an Ofsted outstanding school in 2011.  The 2011 Ofsted Inspection Report concluded, ‘ Heanor Gate Science College provides an outstanding all-round education for its students .’  When Heanor Gate School was inspected in 2013 it was graded ‘inadequate.’  Ofsted concluded in September 2013 that, ‘Since becoming an academy, the college has declined.’

Myth 2 – Academies raise standards  John Port School, Etwall, converted to academy status in 2011 and was graded by Ofsted as outstanding in December that year, very shortly after academy conversion took place.  However, the academy was graded inadequate in every area in June 2017, with Ofsted commenting that, ‘pupils have been let down. ’  Kirk Hallam Community Technology and Sports College converted to academy status as an Ofsted outstanding school.  Its last Ofsted Inspection Report before academisation stated that, ‘ The school is highly effective and provides an excellent standard of education. There is an exceptionally good ethos for learning throughout the school. ’  When the academy was inspected in March 2014, Ofsted reported that ‘students are sometimes late to lessons and do not always display positive attitudes to learning. ’ The school was graded by Ofsted as ‘Requires Improvement’ .

Myth 3 – Academies spend more of their funding on teaching and learning  In the academy sector, funding is diverted away from teaching and learning into other types of spending.  The DfE’s data on income and expenditure in the academy sector has demonstrated that, since 2011/12:  expenditure on teaching staff as a proportion of total expenditure had fallen by 3.2%;  expenditure on ‘back office’ costs has risen and is now running at £2.2 billion (11.5 per cent), just behind expenditure on teaching assistants (11.8 per cent);  spending on educational consultants runs to over £172 million;  greed, excess and waste are running out of control in the academy sector.

Myth 3 – Academies spend more of their funding on teaching and learning  In many academy trusts, there is excessive spending on trustee pay (which includes CEO and executive headteacher pay).  The DfE has reported that, in 2015/16 (which are the most recently published DfE figures), academy trusts made 102 payments of over £150,000 to trustees.  In many cases, these were single academy trusts. 843 payments of over £100,000 were made by academy trusts to trustees in 2015/16, which was 30 more than in 2014/15.  Ofsted has commented on this issue, stating that: ‘Salary levels for the chief executives of some of these MATs do not appear to be commensurate with the level of performance of their trusts or constituent academies. The average pay of the chief executives in these seven trusts is higher than the Prime Minister’s salary, with one chief executive’s salary reaching £225k.’  The Two Counties Trust remunerates one of its employees between £150,001 and £160k.

Myth 4 – All schools are in the process of becoming academies  It is not the case that all schools are academies, or are on their way to becoming academies.  The DfE’s latest Annual Report and Accounts for the academies sector, published in October 2017, indicates that 4 per cent of primary schools in Derbyshire, and 42 per cent of secondary schools, are academies.  Some more schools may have decided to embark on academy conversion since the DfE’s last Annual Report and Accounts were published, but it is not the case that all schools in Derbyshire are in the process of becoming academies, by any means.  The Government has confirmed the role of local authorities in maintaining schools and created two new funding streams, the high needs and the central school services National Funding Formula, for this purpose. These will continue after 2020.