Following the recent announcement that all schools will become academies by 2022, I have seen plenty of reaction online from teachers and school leaders.
As one would expect, the majority of what I have read has been questioning this policy and arguing against the requirement that all schools convert within the next six years.
As a headteacher of a school that became an academy around five years ago, I have first-hand experience of what it is like to go through the process of conversion and I have worked with the so-called “freedoms” and “autonomy” that the holy grail of academisation brings.
In fact, I have worked in two schools at senior leadership level in two different local authorities where academy conversion has taken place, so I feel well-placed to comment on what it is like to lead a school which holds academy status.
However, the situation is now quite different and I have tried to put myself in the shoes of a school leader who is faced with having to either convert to become an academy, join a multi-academy trust, or both.
There has been a shift in the criteria used for schools to qualify for conversion over the past five years or so. First, I recall that only “outstanding” schools could convert, then the doors opened to “good” schools and before we knew it, if you were “requires improvement” or worse then you might be forced to join a multi-academy trust.
Either way, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that multi-academy trusts are where all schools will eventually end up and this is where I think the tension lies for many school leaders.
Most heads that I speak with, who lead local authority schools, are pretty much resigned to converting within the next few years, but becoming an academy doesn’t worry them too much.
The real worry for headteachers is loss of control of their school. On one hand the government is saying that academisation brings autonomy, but on the other hand if all schools have to become part of a multi-academy trust, then there is a genuine fear that those at the top of a trust’s hierarchy are the ones who are dictating the direction the school travels in.
There is also a fear of the unknown. Not being in control of your own destiny is a hard place to be for a headteacher. You have your own values and ambitions for how you want your school to grow and develop and these might not be on the same page as the trust’s.
Headteachers who know they need to convert and become part of a multi-academy trust need to choose their partners very carefully in order to do the right thing for their school.
These are monumental decisions for heads and governing bodies to make and for small primary and secondary schools these decisions are pivotal for future sustainability.
Another key point to make is that, from my experience, I would say that financially there is no real benefit from being an academy – yes you get to spend your money how you see fit, but schools in my local authority are so poorly funded anyway that we are all scrimping like crazy to not incur a deficit budget.
I can see why this policy has been introduced but I also understand why so many school leaders and teachers are opposed to it.
I’ve led two schools through the process but only because it was genuinely the right thing to do in the circumstances. Both local authorities services had been decimated and all secondary schools had been instructed to convert. Therefore, at the time, it was better to convert as soon as possible before it became enforced.
The advice I have given colleagues who are faced with the difficult decision of when to convert, or which multi-academy trust to join, is to do everything you can to retain as much control and autonomy as possible over aspects such as budgets, staffing and curriculum – keeping the identity of your school depends on it.
- SecEd’s headteacher diarist is in his second year of headship at a comprehensive school in the Midlands.