It is all about the money – not education

While in your comment you suggest that the new style of academies is simply an evolution of a New Labour idea, and hence the reason for them getting a smoother ride, it is wrong to imply by default that there is little opposition.

There has been much opposition but it has been largely ignored. Why?

The whole process of the education reforms is different, and so far as I can see has not been subject to the wider scrutiny that health and other issues have.

It is almost a devolved process, without any statutory or robust democratic debate in the community being necessary and effectively meaning the school management decide whether to become an academy or not.

And why do they become an academy? Starved of cash and seeing a funding lifeline presented to them, they take it and it matters not that objections may be recorded.

It’s all about the money and not educational standards. Indeed, more than one headteacher has remarked to me this is the real reason for conversion.

The term ‘loaded gun to the head’ has also been used in discussions.

So, if it is not done for educational reasons and, similarly the process is as shambolic as the ‘free schools’ you comment upon, what state will our education system be in when the Government leaves office?

I would suggest as bad as the mess the Tories left us in the last time. Despite the Worcester News claiming not to care for ‘ideology’ when it comes to education – this is exactly what it is about.

Finally, for you to state ‘academies have proved their worth’ is misleading beyond belief. On what measure have they proved their worth?

There is little statistical evidence to suggest academies perform better than the school they once were or indeed any school in the maintained sector.

The difference is they are a private business in a competitive marketplace and that is a recipe for disaster in education policy – just wait to see what happens when the first of the new-style ‘academies’ go bust....

STEVE BROWN
UNISON Worcestershire