Does academy conversion actually lead to slower improvement in schools?
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By Henry Stewart
Last week the report of the Education Select Committee stated that ‘current evidence does not allow us to draw conclusions on whether academies in themselves are a positive force for change’. It added that ‘academisation is not always successful nor is it the only proven alternative for a struggling school’. This was not exactly a ringing endorsement of the academies programme, coming as it did from a committee chaired by Conservative MP Graham Stuart and with a majority of members from the Coalition.
Yet today David Cameron will announce that any school rated by Ofsted as ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ will be subject to conversion to an academy. The Telegraph noted that almost 4,000 schools currently have one of these ratings (though some of these are of course already academies). It is hard to see where the evidence is that this is a sensible focus or use of resources.
My extensive analysis for this site has repeatedly found that, when sponsored secondary...
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