Opposition to the government’s plan to force all schools into multi-academy trusts went far beyond the “usual suspects” with a cross-party grouping of MPs, parents, teachers unions, local authorities – in fact just about everyone – speaking out against it.
While this pressure led to the education secretary’s u-turn stating that the “forced” element will be removed, Nicky Morgan is still insisting she will press ahead with plans for all schools to become academies.
The spectre of forced academisation of course already hangs over all of England’s schools, even those Ofsted has rated good or outstanding. The Education and Adoption Act, which received Royal Assent in March, gives Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) powers to intervene against schools “causing concern”.
The Act requires RSCs to issue an academy order to any maintained schools with an inadequate Ofsted judgement and to intervene against those judged requires improvement (RI). While an academy order is not inevitable for RI schools, RSCs have indicated that it is a likely course of action.
The “schools causing concern” bracket also includes so-called “coasting” schools – a large number of schools that have a good or outstanding Ofsted judgement are likely to be among the first in the firing line, particularly those serving disadvantaged communities. An academy order is again an option for RSCs.
The definition of what constitutes “coasting” is based on three years of data dating back to 2014. Schools will be labelled as coasting for the first time this year once SATs and GCSE results are known. The definition used reduces the quality of education a school provides to a measure based purely on pupils’ outcomes in key stage 2 SATs or GCSE examinations, set alongside a spurious “progress” measure.
The progress measure has been criticised by academics, researchers and statisticians at EduDatalab as “the very worst indicator routinely published about schools”. Their research highlights that among secondary students, those who are already high achievers at age 11 will make faster and further progress than those who are not, so in fact the measure is “not a measure of progress at all”.
Researchers also found that secondary schools serving more affluent communities “will escape this judgement”. Crucially they conclude that this “social gradient” in coasting judgements will not disappear with the switch to Progress 8 from this year, since schools “with the most able in-takes tend to achieve above average Progress 8 scores”.
Schools are already being informed by RSCs that, on the basis of data for 2014 and 2015, they are expected to be “coasting” following this summer’s results. The NUT is being told by members that these include good and outstanding schools. Parents are entitled to question what is going on when schools that they trust, based on their own experience, to offer a high standard of education are threatened with forced academisation on the basis of alleged underperformance.
The increasingly vocal disquiet among parents about the exam factory culture that now pervades schools demonstrates the need for the root and branch reform of accountability measures that the NUT has been advocating for some time. Schools cannot and should not be judged by data alone. Children need and parents want schools that provide a broad, balanced and exciting curriculum that inspires them to develop a lifelong love of learning.
A culture, in which school leaders are constantly looking over their shoulder, fearing an adverse Ofsted judgement or a “coasting” notification from the RSC, militates against this. We owe it to young people to rise up and defend our schools from the dead hand of forced academisation. They are not coasting but drowning – and we need to rescue them before it’s too late.
- Christine Blower is general secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Visit www.nut.org.uk