Academies:
to be or not to be?
J Devlin, Feb 201 2
CHANGES FOR L0CAL AUTHORITIES
• Reduction in funding has
led to significant restructure and a traded
services model
• SIP role to be outsourced
from Sept 2011
•Many ex-SIPs will be in the
market for work
•Headteacher PM must still
involve an external expert
• Retained responsibility
for:
•Champion for Parents and
Families
•Supporting Vulnerable
Children
•Champions for Educational
Excellence
•General duties under 1996
and 2006 Acts
•Schools Causing Concern Intervention
WHOSE DECISION?
 “We believe that governing bodies should be the key strategic
body in schools, responsible for the overall direction that a
school takes. In that respect, governors are also therefore the
key body for school improvement.’
 Lord Hill, 2011
 Don’t leave it to the head or the DfE!
STRATEGIC OPTIONS
1.
Do nothing
2.
Collaboration
3.
Independent academy
4.
Academy Chain
DO NOTHING
Pros
 LA provide contingency / fall- back
service if required
Cons
 LA has less money centrally as schools opt
out
 LA focus is on less well performing schools
 Cost doesn’t equate to VFM in terms of level
of LA support delivered
 Inability to ‘shape’ the landscape
 Underperformance will mean being forced to
become an Academy
COLLABORATION
 Informal par tner ships with other local sc hools to share selected
curriculum provision and resources
Pros
 Defined areas for collaborati on
 Collaborating schools can obtain
some economies of scale
 Not legally binding; each school
will retain its own separate
registration and categor y (e.g.
community)
Cons
 No control over budget
 Lengthy negotiations to reach
agreement
 Additional meeting time
commitment
 No formal agreements/contracts &
variable levels of commitment
INDEPENDENT ACADEMY
 Conver sion to academy status as a single sc hool
Pros
Cons
 Autonomy in driving school
improvement agenda
 Ability to expand mix of par tner ship
arrangements to achieve economies
of scale on own terms
 Sharing best practice, staf f &
leader ship development
oppor tunities through suppor ting a
less well per forming school
 Full receipt of income i.e. no LA top
slice
 Increased VFM via procurement of
bespoke ser vices
 input of external exper tise provides
 additional controls & over sight
 Increased governing body
accountabilities
 Increased statutor y
requirements & costs e.g.
accounting
 Need to fulfil all employer
liabilities
 Funding agreement commitment
= 7 year s
 Some unchar ted territor y
 Isolation?
 DfE as boss?
5. ACADEMY CHAIN
 M ultiple sc hools conver ting to academy status under one Trust
 Pros & cons as per previous slide AND :
Pros
 Broader range of oppor tunities and
benefits for students and staf f
 Fit for future governance
arrangements utilising best mix of
skills, knowledge & experience
 Cohesive strategic leader ship
through shared structures
 Increased flexibility & operational
ef ficiencies - less duplication of
ef for t
 Increased VFM & buying power 
greater economies of scale
Cons
 Some loss of autonomy through
shared accountabilities
 Shor t term increase in costs
before evidencing longer term
benefits
 Becoming a mini -LA without
large economies of scale
 Isolation from rest of system?
WHO CAN BECOME AN ACADEMY?
 “outstanding” and ‘good with outstanding features’ schools
 other schools need to apply in partnership with an existing
academy or join an existing academy trust with a proven
record of school improvement in order to apply for academy
status
 from 1 January 2011 , special schools became eligible to
apply for academy status
 Underperforming primary schools will be forced to become
Academies
 Free schools are Academies
DOES ACADEMY STATUS AUTOMATICALLY
LEAD TO IMPROVEMENT?
 “Evidence shows that the academy programme has had a good
ef fect on school standards” Michael Gove 16 June 2011
 National Audit Of fice report (NAO, 2010): most (sponsored)
academies are achieving increases in academic attainment
for their pupils compared with their predecessor schools
 Although still below the national average, the proportion of
their pupils achieving five or more A* -C grades at GCSE or
equivalent is improving at a faster rate than maintained
schools with similar intakes
 a small number of (sponsored) academies have made little
progress, particularly when English and mathematics are
taken into account
GOVERNANCE
 Since converting to academy status and experiencing reduced
involvement of the LA , governors are expected to take on
more responsibility (eg, for buildings and other assets)
 One governor explained this as “the buck now stops with us”
 Need for additional training, in particular relating to the new
responsibilities and accountabilities that academy status
brings
 “The governing body is now running a small organisation. The
school took advice on risks which are perceived to be
dif ferent, but not more serious.” (Academy senior leader)
CONVERSION CHALLENGES
Sponsored
Converting
 Challenging staff to raise
standards
 Refining ethos, vision,
values
 Revising policies for
consistency
 Realigning leadership
structures
 Engaging with parents
and community
 TUPE of staff
 Managing stakeholders,
especially if they
disagree
 Volume of admin and
paperwork
 Burden on leaders,
especially bursar –
against the clock
EXPENSIVE LEGAL SUPPORT?
 Durand academy in Lambeth: supported through conversion by "a
communications agency and property and TUPE [specialist
employment] lawyers"
 Lampton academy in Hounslow: schools are given £25,000 to
effect the conversion: fortunate to have a governor whose hard
work cut down their legal fees: a colleague in Brent without any
expertise received a bill from the same firm of solicitors that
Lampton used for less than £10,000
 Too much of a meal can be made of the difficulty of the
paperwork involved, insists Jim McAtear, head of Hartismere
school in Suffolk. He scrutinised the legal requirements carefully
beforehand and decided a DIY approach was perfectly viable.
"The way the DfE has set up the process actually strengthens the
infrastructure of those schools," he says. "The difficulties
entailed are largely illusory.“
 Guardian 30 May 2011
WHY HAVE SCHOOLS CONVERTED?
 The money the schools have pulled back – between 8% and
14% of their total budget – and what it would allow them to
do is the central reason all these heads cite for choosing
academy status
 The Premier Academy in Milton Keynes has £330,000 more:
 "We probably don't get things cheaper, but we can move
faster…The enhanced funding allows us to purchase services
that give best value for money, including those provided by
the LA , but we will not be constrained by having one provider
who has a monopoly on a service irrespective of quality or
cost. It's this type of freedom that has made the conversion to
academy status incredibly worthwhile“
 How to become an academy: Guardian Monday 30 May 2011
REASONS FOR NOT CHANGING
 The “new freedoms” are not new at all and pose problems:
 Freedom from LA control – LMS was established in 1988
 Set your own pay and conditions – but virtually no Academies
have done it – risks disruption and inflation
 Freedom from National Curriculum – NC is under review to
reduce prescription
 Change length of school day and terms – you can already
change day lengths. Changing term dates likely to cause local
dif ficulties, esp for parents of children at dif ferent schools
OTHER REASONS
Learn from the past
Moral issue
 GM status – some leapt
at it, got most of the
money; others
pressurised to follow
(domino effect), got
less; most chose not to;
new government
reversed policy
 If many become
Academies, what
happens to all the other
schools?
 Less money
 Reduced services
 Two-tier system
UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS
 Very little research on converting academies
 No solid evidence that they raise educational
standards
 Nobody knows everything
 Politically-driven?
 Head-driven?
 Locked in for 7 years
 Insecure future funding and costs of services
 Lack of open accountability
 Accidents waiting to happen: indemnity insurance
SOME QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
 Where are you now in consideration of Academy
status?
 What appeals to you about Academy status?
 What puts you off?
 What questions remain unanswered?
MY FEELINGS
 Pros are
1. More autonomy???
2. More freedom re. curriculum and less interference.
3. Greater Catholic identity and stronger partnerships
 Cons are
1. Less autonomy due to MAT???
2. Distraction caused by conversion
MY FEELINGS
 Ultimately, I suppose the question to be answered is :
 Do the governors of Our Lady of Victories agree in
principle to pursue conversion to an academy as part
of the multi-academy trust?
 If the answer is yes, we have to consult with stakeholder s and share this
decision with our par tner schools. If no, then we carr y on as normal.
 If we agree in principle then the next steps would be taken as a group of
schools at the par tner ship level.
 I've done a lot of thinking about the issue and in many ways I can see the
benefits of not conver ting as it is working at the moment. And there is a
worr y that the process of conver si on will distract us from our core purpose
(there will be quite a bit of work to do.) However, I don't see that we have a
choice. The government has made its feelings clear, so has the diocese.
There will be nothing lef t of the LEA ver y soon. I believe the time to go is
now as dragging it on for 2 or 3 year s will distract us from what we do best
- providing the best catholic education we can for the children.