THE LATEST NEWS AND INFORMATION ON ACADEMIES, FREE SCHOOLS AND PRIVATISATION ISSUES FROM THE NUT’S PRIVATISATION IN EDUCATION UNIT
NUMBER 21, FEBRUARY 2012
ACADEMIES CAMPAIGNS
Campaign victory means no academy for Kimberley School
Following a determined campaign by staff and parents at Kimberley
School, in Nottinghamshire, the governors rejected a move to academy
status at their meeting on 7 February 2012. A statement from governors
said: "As a result of the comprehensive consultation exercise the
Governors of The Kimberley School unanimously believe that, on balance,
it is not in the best interests of the school to change status at this
time. However, Governors have resolved to keep this under review."
The decision means planned strike action by NUT members has been lifted.
NUT Regional Secretary Ian Stevenson said: "We think the Governing Body
is to be congratulated on the decision which was taken in the face of
what I believe was considerable pressure from the local authority to
convert to an academy school. Kimberley School now joins secondary
schools in Rushcliff and Eastwood in rejecting academy status." (NUT
Yorkshire/Midlands Regional Office, 08.02.12)
Haringey campaign against academies
Over 1,000 people marched through the London Borough of Haringey on 28 January 2012 against the Education Secretary’s threat to force four local primary schools to convert to academy status. The threatened schools are Downhill’s, Coleraine Park, Nightingale and Noel Park.
Haringey Councillors have finally swung behind the campaign after initially seeming acquiescent in the face of government threats. A letter in the TES from the Councils cabinet member for children, Councillor Lorna Reith, contained a cogent defence of Haringey schools which highlighted their record of improvement. Last year 71 per cent of the pupils in the Borough’s primaries achieved Level four or above in English and maths, a five percent increase on 2008 that outstrips the one per cent national increase over the same period. (TES, 20.01.12)
Ofsted inspectors visited Downhills on the 26 and 27 January, the two days leading up to the march. The Education Secretary had brought forward the planned inspection following the threat of legal action by the Downhill’s governors. Nevertheless, while giving evidence to the Education Select Committee on 31 January, the Secretary of State for Education continued his assault on the local campaign, branding those standing up for their schools as “trots”.
Local MP David Lammy, a former pupil at Downhills, has tabled an Early Day Motion that raises important concerns about forced academies. The NUT hopes that many MPs will sign the Motion and is asking members to help publicise the problems with forced academies by emailing their MP about the EDM.
An electronic template has been set up for this and is available at http://www.teachers.org.uk/academies
Montgomery continues academy fight
Montgomery Primary school in Birmingham is another of the 200 schools in England which are being threatened with having academy status forced upon them. However, on 26 January 2012, 130 parents, staff, pupils and supporters attended a public meeting to support the school and stand up against the Government’s plans. The meeting followed two days of strike action which saw picket lines of teachers and parents swell to over 100. Speakers at the meeting included NUT Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney, NASUWT National Treasurer Brian Cookson and Roger Godsiff MP. Earlier in the month the parent led campaign “Parents of Montgomery” had organised a petition of over 700 signatures which was handed to the school. (Anti-Academies Alliance, 27.01.12)
ACADEMIES
Open Academies – February 2012
· There were 1,580 open academies on 1 February 2012.
· In the month since 1 January 2012, 51 new academies opened and 92 new applications were received.
NUT Region / Secondary academies (converter & sponsored) / Primary academies (converter & sponsored) / Others* / Total OpenYorks/Midlands / 155 / 59 / 6 / 220
South West / 158 / 108 / 10 / 276
South East / 153 / 37 / 4 / 194
North West / 91 / 19 / 3 / 113
Northern / 56 / 18 / 6 / 80
Midlands / 147 / 26 / 6 / 179
London / 165 / 42 / 13 / 220
Eastern / 205 / 64 / 29 / 298
TOTAL / 1,130 / 373 / 77 / 1,580
*NOTE: ‘Others’ includes all age, 14-19, all through, middle deemed secondary, special school academies, PRUs etc.
Funding for SEN Services
The Government has decided to exempt local authority expenditure in relation to SEN services from the academy recoupment process for 2012-13, mirroring the arrangement for 2011-12. This means local authorities can retain their central funding for SEN services no matter how many academies they have in their area. This decision has come about following lobbying by the Special Educational Consortium, of which the NUT is a member.
This decision has two important implications:
• Local authority should not now cut SEN support services on the basis that a number of academies have opened in that area. Where there are academies in a local authority area, that local authority will now retain the money to keep SEN support services available.
• As they are retaining the money for SEN support services that was previously being delegated to academies, local authorities should provide these services to children in academies.
Full information can be found in the Department for Education’s Academy Funding guide which is available at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/a00202784/academy-funding-lacseg.
Academies outperformed by maintained schools at GCSE
The Government released detailed figures on English schools’ GCSE results from 2011 last month and however the DfE would like to spin it, one thing is clear: academies were out-performed by maintained schools on almost every measure.
An analysis of the results by Henry Stewart of the Local Schools Network found that 47 per cent of old style Labour academies with results in 2010 and 2011 achieved five A*-Cs at GCSE including English and Maths. The equivalent figure for maintained schools was 60 per cent.
It might be argued that many of these academies would have had a less advantaged intake. However, Stewart also split the data into five comparison groups according to the percentage of students on free school meals (FSM) - schools with less than 10 per cent of pupils on FSM and so on up to the most disadvantaged where more than 40 per cent were receiving FSM. The results showed that in each group academies performed less well than maintained schools on the measure of five GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths.
Henry Stewart’s full analysis can be read on the Local School’s Network website:
http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2012/01/academies-the-evidence-of-underperformance/
Academies’ GCSE results boosted by equivalents
Further analysis of the GCSE data by Dr Terry Wrigley, Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University, showed that academies were using equivalent qualifications to boost their achievement on the Government’s preferred measure of five GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths.
The data shows that just 38 per cent of academies’ pupils obtained their five A* to Cs by GCSEs alone. When equivalents were included this figure rose to 50 per cent. In contrast, the equivalent figures for all maintained schools were 53 per cent and 59 per cent respectively, a much smaller gap. Dr Wrigley found that more than half (141) academies had gaps of ten percentage points or more between results including equivalents, and those without. In one academy, 70 per cent of pupils gained five good GCSEs, but the figure was zero when equivalents were discounted.
The Government has recently announced that it will no longer give equivalent GCSE values to vocational qualifications in league tables. However, as Dr Wrigley suggests, it is at the same time “relying on these results as part of [the] argument that academies are better.
The Government has also sought to use the GCSE results to argue that the existing schools’ system is failing pupils from less advantaged backgrounds. Schools’ Minister Nick Gibb complained that only 33.9 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths, compared to the national average of 58.2 per cent in maintained schools.
However, Dr Wrigley points out: "Around half of academies did worse than this, and many would have fallen below the proportion if they hadn't made extensive use of 'equivalent' qualifications that the government is about to abolish as suspect."
Gibb also lamented the fact that that one in six pupils nationally obtained the Government’s E-Baccalaureate combination of subjects (Ebacc), against only one in 25 disadvantaged pupils. But Gibb ignored the fact that academies performed poorly on this measure, with only one in 33 academy pupils achieving the Ebacc despite the fact that most of their pupils were not disadvantaged.
Dr Wrigley’s analysis further revealed that: “On average, of pupils nationally who got five A*-Cs with English and Maths, 33 per cent achieved Ebacc. In academies, the proportion was 12 per cent. It is even worse (about eight per cent) once you remove academies which are former independent, grammar or other very high achieving schools.”
Dr Wrigley concluded: “There is absolutely nothing in the data to suggest that either average or more or less able pupils progress better in academies than in normal comprehensive schools.”
Dr Wrigley’s findings were reported by the BBC on 3 February (www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16858868)
Academy chief defends league table tactics
John Coles, former director general for education standards at the DfE and now head of academies chain the United Learning Trust, has said that he sees nothing wrong with schools using “tactical means” to improve their league table scores. Speaking at a Cambridge Assessment conference Coles said that “it depends what you do” in relation to strategies such as early entry for GCSEs and focusing on borderline C/D pupils. He said that he saw value in emphasising borderline pupils because for employers, sixth form colleges and universities “the difference between a D and a C is worth more than between any other two grades”. He also said that early entry for GCSE was acceptable as a base for more advanced study. (TES, 03.02.12)
Failing head teachers blamed for riots
Following his announcement that he will do away with the Ofsted rating of “satisfactory” for schools, just weeks after the new Ofsted regime came into force, the new Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw has caused further controversey with the suggestion that failing head teachers bore some responsibility for last summer’s urban unrest.
“Last year's riots proved that the schools in our most deprived areas need leaders with drive and high expectations…(but) …The sad truth is that these are the very young people most likely to attend a weak school and receive a substandard education,” said Wilshaw.
“Every time heads and others make excuses for failure, it makes it harder to sustain the drive for improvement in the most challenging schools. Every time a substandard teacher is left unchallenged, the most vulnerable pupils have their life chances diminished.”
Wilshaw boasted that no pupil at his former school Mossbourne Academy, in Hackney, had been involved in the riots. However, the leader of Haringey Council, where some of the worst rioting took place, had previously announced that no Haringey young people had been arrested or charged in connection with the riots. (Guardian 02.02.12)
Barclay’s to fund academies and free schools
Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that Barclay’s Bank will offer £1 million to groups that want to set up free schools and invest £15 million in money management courses. The bank will also offer work experience to 3,000 pupils aged 16-18 from academies and free schools, and encourage staff to become governors.
Commenting on the announcement NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said “Opening schools up to the market place is simply wrong. Children and young people should not be influenced at an impressionable age by which ever large company manages to gain a foothold in their school.”
A £1.25 million fund will also provide grants of on average £5,000 for groups wanting to set up free schools to use in planning and research. The grants will be administered in collaboration with the New Schools Network, the group staffed by former advisers to Michael Gove and appointed and funded by the DfE to help set up free schools. (BBC News, 18.01.12)
Government policy “very dangerous”
Professor Mel Ainscow, who has just received a CBE and whose Greater Manchester Challenge programme has been publicly praised by Education Secretary Michael Gove, has criticised the Government’s lack of planning for coordination of education. In an interview with the TES Ainscow said "The government's policy of 'setting schools free' is very dangerous without some new form of local coordination. There is a policy silence about this at the moment. I think that Michael Gove and his colleagues genuinely believe that market forces will take care of all this. But that will create winners and losers, and we can all predict who the losers will be. We need more regulation of the market." (TES, 13.01.12)
NEEC delegates criticise Government policy
Delegates to the North of England Education Conference held in Leeds in January 2012 heard schools’ minister Nick Gibb concede that there was an “issue of oversight” with the academies programme. However, the growing consensus about a need for a local tier of administration has not been met with significant or concrete announcements from Government. Meanwhile, central dictat continues to characterise the Government’s interventions with the work and achievements of local schools undermined and disparaged.
David Kirk, a national Leader of Education working with Mount Pelloin Primary in Halifax, one of 200 schools faced with forced academy conversion, attacked ministers for refusing to take into account improving results.
The conference chair Mick Waters, Head of the Curriculum Foundation, said that the current policy represented a move from the "managed autonomy" that existed for schools under Labour to "centralised control". He said that those trying to make the new changes work for children were struggling as "a tornado of ideology sweeps through the environment they have worked so hard to create". (TES, 13.01.12)