Privatisation­Update
Academies, Free Schools and Privatisation Issues
No. 60
May 2016
WIDESPREAD­OPPOSITION­FORCES­TACTICAL­SHIFT­ON­GOVERNMENT’S­PLANS
FOR­TOTAL­ACADEMISATION
The Government has been forced to announce a
tactical shift in its plans, set out in the White Paper,
Educational Excellence Everywhere, to force all schools
in England to become academies within multi
academy trusts (MATs) by 2022.
This ‘concession’ may be sufficient to satisfy
Conservative MPs and councillors who had objected
to schools in their local areas being forced into
academy status. However it means that tens of
thousands of schools, mostly in Labour local
authorities, remain at high risk of being forced into
academy status within MATs.
The Education for All Bill announced in the Queen’s
Speech on 18 May reiterated the Government’s
determination to move “towards a system where
every school is an academy through powers to
convert schools to academies in under-performing
and unviable local authorities”.
The Government did not spell out how it would define
local authority ‘viability’ or a ‘minimum performance
threshold’ for local authorities. Instead it said there
would be consultation on these definitions.
Details of the plans were set out in a DfE press
release on 6 May in which Nicky Morgan, the
Secretary of State, said the Government would:
However, some commentators have considered what
these definitions might be.
Think tank Centre Forum has produced an analysis
that works on the basis that:
• Continue to require so-called ‘failing’ and
‘underperforming’ schools to become sponsored
academies and implement new measures to force
so-called ‘coasting’ schools to become academies
(through powers already in place in the Education
and Adoption Act 2016);
• A local authority would be considered ‘unviable’ if
less than half of pupils in the area attend local
authority maintained schools; and
• A local authority would be considered ‘underperforming’ if the performance of its maintained
schools at either key stage 2 or key stage 4 was
below the (current) national average for statefunded mainstream schools.
• Continue to encourage ‘high-performing’
maintained schools to convert voluntarily and to
take the lead in supporting other schools as part of
multi-academy trusts; and
• Bring forward legislation that would trigger
conversion of all schools within a local authority in
two specific circumstances:
On this basis Centre Forum has calculated that there
are:
1. Where it is clear that the local authority can no
longer viably support its remaining schools
because a critical mass of schools in that area
has converted (under this mechanism a local
authority will also be able to request the
Department for Education converts all of its
remaining schools); and
• 53 local authorities where results at key stage 2 are
below average; and
• 52 local authorities that are ‘unviable’;
• 86 local authorities where results at key stage 4 are
below average.
This means 122 local authorities (out of 152)
responsible for 12,000 maintained schools meet
Centre Forum’s assumed criteria. Forcibly converting
these 12,000 schools to academy status would result
in around 85 per cent of schools being academies,
which, along with those converting voluntarily, would
render most remaining local authorities unviable.
2. Where the local authority consistently fails to
meet a minimum performance threshold across
its schools.
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If the threshold for ‘viability’ were changed from 50
per cent of pupils in LA schools to 60 per cent of
pupils, the number of local authorities caught out
would rise from 52 to 80.
The NUT published a joint­position­statement with
the NAHT, ATL, UNISON and the Association of
Educational Psychologists (AEP). The statement
called on the Government to pull back from a new
Education Bill and instead engage in meaningful
discussions with unions, local authorities, governors
and parents; to address the pressing issues in
education – namely the funding crisis, teacher
shortages, lack of school places and the curriculum
and assessment chaos.
An article in Schools Week suggested that rather than
the actual number of schools, viability could depend
on the pool of cash left with the remaining
maintained schools. “If the combined budget of these
schools was not large enough for the local authority
to top slice a sufficient amount to fund its
improvement services, then it could be classified as
unviable”, according to Schools Week.
NUT­BALLOTS­FOR­STRIKE­ACTION
increases and pay progression in schools and
academies alike. The NUT is seeking full funding, not
just ‘fair funding’.
From 23 May, the Union is balloting members for
strike action as part of its trade dispute about
funding, pay and conditions. Nicky Morgan may have
announced a change of tactics on forced
academisation but she has made no concessions on
the matters about which the NUT wrote to her on 21
April to declare the dispute. In that letter the Union
demanded that she should provide additional funding
for schools and take a range of steps to restore and
improve pay and conditions.
Without more money and the protection of national
pay & conditions, things will get worse much faster
for teachers and children. There will be a further
erosion of terms and conditions, increased workload
and impeded pay progression for teachers.
As more schools become academies, the coverage of
the national STPCD and Burgundy Book will narrow
and these protections will gradually wither away. This
is a threat to teachers in local authority schools and
in academies – most academies have so far stuck to
the national pay and conditions.
Since then Nicky Morgan has said nothing to resolve
the dispute. Real term cuts in funding will have major
effects on schools and teachers, whether academy or
maintained. Funding cuts for schools and academies
are happening because the Government is freezing
funding per pupil and imposing higher national
insurance and pension costs. This will cut the value of
funding by 10 per cent or more by 2020. The
proposed ‘national funding formula’ goes further – it
will actually take money away from around half of all
schools. Funding pressures already threaten pay
The Union has produced a document aimed at Reps,
Strike Ballot: Questions & Answers for NUT
Representatives. This document, and other material
about the Union’s campaign against the White Paper
and its impact on schools and teachers, can be
accessed here.
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PARENTS­AND­GOVERNORS
NGA is urging the Government to drop the proposal.
Emma Knights, NGA Chief Executive, said: “The
government has simply got this one wrong. But we
hope that Nicky Morgan and her Department can yet
be persuaded by the arguments that we and many
others are putting across in defence of elected
parents on governing boards. You can help by
lobbying your MP and getting them to back our
campaign to Keep Parents Governing.”
Working­with­parents
Teachers and parents share concerns about the
Government’s approach to education. The NUT has
produced briefings and materials on working with
parents at: www.teachers.org.uk/campaigns/whitepaper/working-with-parents
NGA­Campaign­to­Keep­Parents­Governing
More details of the NGA’s campaign can be found
here.
Since the White Paper’s publication in March, the
National Governors’ Association (NGA) has stridently
opposed the Government’s intention to remove the
current requirement for elected parent places on each
academy board.
A blog by the NUT’s Helen Young, published on the
website of the British Educational Research
Association (BERA), examines the implications of the
shift from representative governors to governors with
‘skills’ and can be read here.
Working with Parent Councils UK and PTA-UK, the
EDUCATION­AND­ADOPTION­ACT
The Education and Adoption Act 2016 came into
effect on 18 April. It has brought about increased
powers of intervention against schools deemed to be
‘failing’, ‘coasting’ or ‘underperforming’. The NUT has
produced a briefing on the Act which sets out the
implications for schools in different circumstances.
More detailed legal­advice on the legislation has also
been published. Both are available here.
ACADEMIES
New­PwC­report­shows­academies­do­not
perform­better
Cambridge­Primary­Review­Trust­blog­on
attainment­in­primary­academies
There continues to be no evidence base for the
proposition that schools that become academies
perform any better academically than maintained
schools. Indeed the evidence increasingly points in
the opposite direction. The most recent analysis to
contradict the Government’s claims has come in a
report for The Times newspaper by PwC consultancy,
published on 9 May 2016.
A recent blog by Henry Stewart sets out the evidence
that maintained primary schools perform much
better than primary academies. Mr Stewart says:
“Regression analysis shows that the data
demonstrating that maintained schools perform
better than similar sponsored academies is very
robust, being statistically significant at the 99 per
cent level”. (CPRT, 25.04.16)
The PwC analysis revealed that only three of the 16
largest secondary academy chains could demonstrate
a positive impact on pupils’ progress, while just one
of the 26 largest primary sponsors produced results
above the national average. In one academy chain,
two fifths of primary children failed to reach the
expected levels of literacy and maths. (The­Times,
09.05.16)
Regional­Schools­Commissioners­(RSCs)
and­Headteacher­Boards­(HTB)
The latest­records of HTB meetings have been
published . It is worth checking which new academies
have been approved in your local area.
The South West has a new RSC, Rebecca­Clark.
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NAO­gives­“adverse­opinion”­of­academy
accounts
Unqualified­daughter­of­minister­teaches­in
his­academy­schools
The DfE eventually published its accounts for 2014/15.
In response, the National Audit Office stated that,
“The [DfE's] financial statements do not present a
true and fair view and meet the accountability
requirements of Parliament. This will become even
more significant in the context of the planned
expansion of the academy sector.” They gave an
“adverse opinion” which is the worst opinion an
auditor can give.
Jo Nash, the daughter of Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State for Schools, Lord Nash, is a
‘volunteer’ history teacher at Future Academies – the
chain set up by Lord Nash and his wife, Lady Caroline.
She is also involved in curriculum development and
teacher recruitment. Jo Nash said: “I’ve chosen not to
become a qualified teacher because I honestly believe
that high energy and a great love of your subject are
the most important qualifications.” (Guardian,
12.05.16)
The NUT said the rapid expansion of the academy
and free schools programme had been "chaotic". Lucy
Powell said the NAO report was “damning and very
serious”. (Independent, 21.04.16)
Academy­trust­lauded­by­Cameron­falls
apart­as­executive­head­quits­
Schools Week sets out free school problems, PFI
payoffs, bonuses, data breaches and lots more payoffs which are evident in the DfE accounts. See the
story below on money written off for free schools.
(Schools­Week, 21.04.16)
Until recently, Government Ministers effusively
praised the Perry Beeches chain of schools in
Birmingham as well as the ‘superhead’, Liam Nolan.
However, a damning financial report from the
Education Funding Agency (EFA) has now led to the
resignation of Mr Nolan and the governing board of
Perry Beeches. The financial irregularities include
payments to Nolan via another company, Nexus. The
Guardian reports that the EFA investigators are
returning to investigate “issues over admissions and
exclusions, and allegations of inappropriate use of
funds including political donations.” The situation left
the five schools without sponsors. Two new free
schools, Perry Beeches VI and Perry Beeches primary
school, will not now go ahead. (Guardian, 10.05.16)
Racist­language­used­in­a­school­meeting
The poor response to the use of racist language in a
school meeting raises further concerns about
academy accountability. Philip Cantwell, Director of
Education at the Creative Education Trust, used racist
language at a meeting in June 2015. It took 10
months for any follow up but a promised review of
procedures is yet to materialise. (Guardian, 03.05.16;
Guardian, 10.05.16)
DfE­approves­scores­of­'ghost­trusts'­with
no­schools
Academy­school­bosses­keep­it­in­the­family
as­Labour­uncovers­'irregular­payments'­to
relatives
The Department for Education (DfE) has approved 111
“unutilised sponsors”. These are “sponsors” that have
been selected by RSCs despite having no track record
in sponsoring schools. For example, West Midlands
Academies Trust has been suggested as a potential
new sponsor for the Perry Beeches schools in
Birmingham despite having no track record. (TES,
22.04.16)
Parliamentary Questions have revealed that 1,083
academy trusts (37%) made “related-party
transactions” in the financial year ending August 31
2014. A “related-party transaction” is when a
payment is made to a businesses or organisation in
which a director has an interest, either directly or
through a family member. The Education Funding
Agency (EFA) discovered at least 26 cases where the
accounts did not reveal a “related party transaction”
or the service was not provided “at cost”. (Mirror,
24.04.16)
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95­academies­have­been­‘failing’­for­five­or
more­years,­claims­Labour­MP
Will­government­plans­lead­to­1,000
academy­chiefs­paid­£150,000?
Nicky Morgan was called to the Education Select
Committee to give evidence on the new Education
White Paper at the end of April. Labour MP Ian Austin
pointed out that one-fifth of the country’s 4,410
academies were in the bottom two Ofsted categories,
according to figures compiled by the House of
Commons library, and had been in those categories
for an average of 2.7 years. He also stated that 95
academies rated either inadequate or requires
improvement had remained that way for five or more
years. (Schools­Week, 27.04.16)
The National Schools Commissioner, Sir David Carter,
produced a spreadsheet of projected costs in multiacademy trusts (MATs), which has been seen by the
Guardian newspaper. He assumes that any MAT with
at least 10 schools and including two secondaries will
have a chief executive at a salary of £150,000. There
are 21,000 state-funded schools in England and
Carter suggests there may be 1,000 new multiacademy trusts by 2020. As Warwick Mansell points
out, “that looks like a large number of high earners.”
(Guardian, 26.04.16)
Academies­given­£8m­over­3­years­to­make
staff­redundant­–­despite­teacher­shortage
Catholic­academy­accused­of­turning­into
‘brutal­exam­factory’
Despite the recruitment crisis, a Freedom of
Information request shows the Department for
Education (DfE) has given out £7.9 million during the
past three years to allow 176 academies to make
their staff redundant. This cash is only available in an
academy’s first two years. An investigation by
Schools Week found that individual trusts were
spending even more than this. The largest 12
academy trusts spent £8.3 million in 2014/15 and £9.1
million in 2013/14 on severance deals for outgoing
staff. (Schools­Week, 18.03.16)
A parent and member of the group Rescue Our
Schools, Fiona Forrest, speaking at a meeting of over
200 parents at NUT Head Quarters on 23 April, has
claimed that the character of her daughter’s school,
St Matthew Academy in Blackheath, South London,
has altered dramatically with no consultation.
The school is sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of
Southwark and takes pupils aged three to 16.
Ms Forrest said: “It used to be a caring, inclusive
school.” After some poor GCSE results, a new
executive headteacher and governing board took
over. Forrest said “Now it’s lots of rules and lots of
shouting and lots of detentions.” Forrest is also
unhappy that the school displays pupil rankings on
the wall. (Guardian, 10.05.16)
Nonsuch­Primary­school­excluded­up­to­'30
disabled­children'­in­bid­to­become
academy
It has been alleged that Nonsuch Primary School in
Woodgate Valley, Birmingham excluded “up to thirty
disabled children … in a rush to become an academy.”
There were 193 pupils at the school in a 2012 Osted
inspection, meaning one in seven pupils were
excluded in 12 months. A councillor raised concerns
about “bullying, intimidation, secrecy and dishonesty
and the extremely high number of expulsions.” (Daily
Mail, 03.04.16)
“This­School”­–­NUT­records­anthem­for
schools
The NUT choir and activists have recorded “This
School”, a song against the Government’s ideological
attacks on schools. The song is for parents, teachers,
governors and other school employees who are
fighting cuts, excessive testing, school closure or the
destruction of their pay and conditions.
A video of the song is available on the NUT’s YouTube
channel.
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FREE­SCHOOLS
disrupted following the collapse of their schools. Five
free schools, four UTCs and 13 studio schools have
closed, or are scheduled to close, since 2013 because
they failed to attract sufficient numbers of pupils
and/or had poor academic results.
Free­school­provider­linked­to­offshore
company.
NUT General Secretary Christine Blower has written to
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to ask for an
urgent inquiry into the relationship between a private
company and an academy trust that runs seven
state-funded free schools in London and the south
east. She said an inquiry is necessary to answer
questions about how Bellevue Education, which has
links to an offshore company exposed in the Panama
Papers, has been allowed to play an influential role in
Bellevue Place Education Trust (BPET), which runs the
free schools.
One parent at the Midland Studio College in Hinckley
said the school has “ruined” the career prospects of
its pupils. She added: “My son’s confidence has been
completely shattered by it all and he will no longer be
able to go to university as they have not delivered
enough hours of suitable teaching.”
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, said,
“The Government should also be called to account for
the £60.7 million it has squandered on these projects
at the expense of good quality school places
elsewhere.” (NUT, 06.05.16)
DfE and BPET deny any link between BPET and
Bellevue Education, claiming they are separate
organisations. The NUT has produced a dossier which
challenges their statements. The NUT dossier,
published on the Union’s Expert­View webpage,
provides clear evidence of the substantial links
between the companies and organisations at issue.
Free­schools­‘socially­select’­pupils,­research
suggests
In her letter, Christine Blower stated: “Parents are
entitled to know that their children's schools are
being run by legitimate organisations. I believe there
must be a full and frank inquiry into this matter with
the findings made public at the earliest opportunity.”
New research from the UCL Institute of Education
analysed data from 2011-2014. It shows that although
free schools were likely to open in more deprived
neighbourhoods and were more likely to take ethnic
minority pupils, they were less likely to take pupils
eligible for free school meals. The proportion of pupils
in Years 1 to 3 at free schools who were entitled to
free school meals was 15 per cent, compared with 18
per cent nationally and 21 per cent in the free schools’
neighbourhoods. (Schools­Week, 29.04.16)
Parent-led­free­schools­in­steady­decline
So far this year, just one of the 40 applications to
open a free school approved by the DfE was from
parents. Lucy Powell described the Government’s
original concept of free schools as being set up by
parents as “all but dead”. Furthermore, the White
Paper set out the Government’s preference for
schools in MATs so the standalone free school is likely
to become a rarity. (Schools­Week, 22.04.16)
Millions­written­off­due­to­free­school
problems
The latest DfE accounts show that the Department
has written off nearly £10 million this year alone – up
from £2.8 million last year. The largest write-off was
for Tauheedul Islam Boys High School in Blackburn. In
this case £1.5 million was put into a site for which
planning permission was overturned. (Schools­Week,
21.04.16)
Schools Week has published a database that reveals
the­trusts running every free school in the country.
The Harris Federation and the Tauheedul Education
Trust have the largest number of free schools: both
run nine and have another five approved and waiting
to open.
Toby­Young­steps­down­as­CEO­of­West
London­Free­School­and­admits­he­was
arrogant
The­education­of­over­2,000­young­people
disrupted­by­collapse­of­22­Governmentpromoted­schools­
Toby Young was a key figure in the free schools
movement. He has now stepped down as CEO of
West London Free School although he remains as a
director. He said: “There are a lot of things I regret. I
Research by the NUT’s privatisation team reveals that
over 2,300 young people have had their education
­6
was very critical of England’s public education system
under the last Labour government, and I hadn’t
grasped how difficult it is to do better, and to bring
about system-wide improvement… there is no
question that it was arrogant of me to believe that
just having high expectations and believing in the
benefits of a knowledge-based education for all, that
those things alone would be enough to create
successful schools.” (Schools­Week, 06.05.16)
OTHER
(SPaG) test the night before Year 6 pupils sat the
paper, part of the KS2 SATs tests. The answers were
uploaded onto a password-protected website
accessible to exam markers for several hours. A
whistleblower alerted the Guardian to the security
breach and the newspaper then alerted the DfE. The
Government insisted that the test go ahead as
planned despite this major security breach. NUT
General Secretary Christine Blower told the BBC: “We
didn’t like the tests in the first place, but the fact is
the tests are compromised and it just adds to the
general sense of chaos, about not just the curriculum
but in particular about assessment this year.”
Pearson’s­2016­AGM
At the end of April, the NUT joined a number of
national and international teaching unions and NGOs
to lobby the annual general meeting of global
education company, Pearson. Christine Blower,
General Secretary of the NUT, said: “Pearson’s
activities around the world indicate its intention to
commercialise and privatise education at all levels”.
Nick Dearden, Director of the NGO Global Justice Now,
added: “It’s even more disturbing that Pearson is
getting UK taxpayers’ money in the form of aid from
DfID to subsidise them in this process.”
At the AGM, the AfT, the NUT and others backed a
resolution calling for the company to conduct a
review of their damaging business model. Resolution
19 received 14,016,634 votes.
Research­from­Reclaiming­Schools
The Reclaiming Schools network continues to provide
useful summaries of research on a range of
educational issues, including this latest summary of
Academy­Myths.
Pearson­and­SATs­Paper­Leak­
In England, Pearson was responsible for the leak of
answers for the spelling, punctuation and grammar
INTERNATIONAL
Virtual­Schools­Report­2016­
A number of US States have publicly funded ‘Cyber
Charter’ schools. A recent report by National
Education Policy Center has shown that they continue
to perform poorly despite their ongoing expansion.
(National­Education­Policy­Center, 20.05.16)
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