Andrew Jones: Trusting professionals is the key to schools revolution

Yet that which many see as being integral to the future success of our country – the education of our young people – did not spark the imagination.

In my view, this was a great shame as each party had distinctive and important things to say.

With no decisive outcome to the election, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats drew up the coalition document which to all intents and purposes supported the Tory pre-election pledge to give all schools the opportunity to become Academies.

The Bill to progress this agenda was one of the first Bills passed in this Parliament, indicating the Government’s prioritising of the issue.

Yet Academies are not new. They are an evolution from the City Technology Colleges introduced in the mid-1980s. Tony Blair’s government renamed them City Academies and subsequently just Academies.

Academies are all-ability, state-funded schools that provide good quality education. They have freedoms from local council control and receive their funding from central government, and also receive funds that would have been held back by the local councils to provide central services. An important point is they have exactly the same per-pupil funding as other schools, but they have more freedoms to decide locally how to use all their funds. No fees are paid by parents.

There are other differences too. These schools now enjoy what are referred to as the freedoms of Academy status. These include the ability to set pay and conditions locally, freedom around the delivery of the national curriculum, and the opportunity to enter into formal collaborations with public and private organisations.

Some things have stayed the same. Academies are required, like other schools, to follow the law and guidance on admissions, there is no introduction of selection. The same is true for special educational needs and Academies must maintain their roles in our communities and collaborate and share facilities with other schools.

The changes are for a purpose, of course, and that is to drive up standards to help each pupil achieve their potential.

Academies are having a positive impact. In 2009-10, the proportion of pupils in academies achieving the expected level of 5 A* to C grades at GCSE level, including English and Maths, increased by 7.4 points on the previous year, compared to an increase of 4.1 points across all maintained schools.

This data is from the last government, but this Government is happy to pursue and develop ideas from the last government – if they are working.

It is the pace at which schools have taken on this opportunity that I have found encouraging. Nationally, one third of secondary schools have either become Academies or have embarked on conversion. This is a huge change in our education system – it is a fundamental shift of power from government to teachers.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, the constituency I represent, Academies have taken off in a big way. There are seven state secondary schools of which three are already Academies and one has applied to convert – that’s over half the schools. This is well above the national average and I warmly welcome it. I also welcome the fact that the conversion locally has met with very little controversy.

So, if Labour set up the Academies and the coalition Government is keen to see progress by allowing their number to expand, what was the difference at the election?

Broadly, the coalition is allowing any secondary school to become an Academy and schools rated outstanding by Ofsted are fast-tracked through. Labour proposed limiting the number of Academies and putting in place complicated support systems between conventional secondary schools that were high performers and poorer performers.

Academies are being extended into primary schools too, where 200 will convert next year in an initiative to tackle poor performance.

At the General Election I felt that the Conservatives had a real story to tell on education. I never saw the rationale of limiting the number of schools that could enjoy the benefits of Academy status. We must never forget that in a debate about educational structure and governance what we are actually talking about are children and their life chances.

In my view teachers – not politicians – know best how to run schools. If we believe that those on the front line of service delivery are best placed to know how to deliver those services why shouldn’t we allow them to do so?

This is one of the themes which underpins much of the thinking from this Government on provision of local services.

Trusting professionals locally in the different branches of our public services will see huge change for the better. We are seeing a schools revolution.

I want to see other public services rise to the local challenge in the same way as Academies to take advantage of their opportunities too.

Andrew Jones is the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.