Gove’s drive loosens councils’ grip

The Education Secretary Michael Gove’s drive to get more schools to opt out of local authority control has seen large numbers of successful schools convert while those under-performing have been targeted for conversion.

Academies are funded directly from the Government with greater freedoms over their spending, curriculum and admissions arrangements.

They were originally created by Labour as city academies – new schools set up in new buildings to replace struggling secondaries.

This was later changed to allow successful schools to convert.

After the General Election, Mr Gove transformed the programme by saying that he wanted academies to become the norm.

The expansion of the programme has not only seen the number of academies increase, but has also seen a surge in the number of schools which are part of larger academy chains.

The Yorkshire Post today looks at the changing face of the education landscape by questioning five of the major chains operating in the region over how much money they retain from their schools budget, how that money is spent and how much goes to its top earners.

The figures provided by national chains Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) and E-ACT, and Yorkshire based groups School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA) and Outwood Grange Academies Trust shows all these organisations pay their most senior figures more than the Prime Minister.

As part of the investigation the Yorkshire Post also questioned national sponsor the United Learning Trust – which was one of the first to operate in the region sponsoring Barnsley Academy, Sheffield Park Academy and Sheffield Springs which opened in 2006. However, it has yet to respond.

AET is the now the biggest chain nationally and has also rapidly expanded in Yorkshire.

Since the start of the academic year it has added eight schools across the region. St Helen’s Primary Academy, Shafton Primary and Meadstead Primary in Barnsley, Feversham Primary in Bradford, Cottingley Primary in Leeds and Green Way, Hall Road Academy and Newington Academy in Hull are now all AET academies.

It is also waiting for approval to convert four more schools in the region to academies – Swallow Hill in Leeds, Shafton Advanced Learning College and Carlton Community College in Barnsley and Firth Park Community Arts College in Sheffield.

Having expanded quickly from being a small chain in Essex to the nation’s biggest sponsor AET agreed with the DfE not to take on anymore schools last year.

A DfE spokeswoman said: “Ministers met and wrote to AET. Ministers have agreed with AET that it should pause its growth, in order to focus on improving the performance of its open academies.”

An AET spokesman said that its movement into Yorkshire had come as a result of approaches from schools and local authorities.

The National Union of Teachers has voiced concern about the scale and growth of academy chains and their accountability.

Its general secretary Christine Blower said: “The NUT has serious concerns about the expansion of unaccountable academy chains and their lack of financial accountability.

“Furthermore the union does not believe there is any evidence to support the Government’s assertion that academies provide a better standard of education than other schools.

“The education of children is too important a matter to leave to market forces. Education must remain a public service with full public accountability.

“The NUT believes that elected and accountable local authorities are best placed to oversee schools, the standard of education they provide and their financial accountability regimes.”