Chris Keates: If you want quality education, you must oppose academies

It is a profound mistake to consider the coalition Government's academies – part of Education Secretary Michael Gove's wider reforms – as merely an extension of those introduced by the previous government. These new academies are fundamentally different.

Gone is the focus on disadvantage, deprivation and under-achievement. All schools, primary, secondary and special, are eligible to apply. Rather than being seen as a solution to particular problems, academies are now promoted as the model for education provision. There is no evidence that structural change of this nature raises educational standards. Indeed, all evidence shows that the academies set up by the previous government performed no better or worse than any other type of school. International evidence paints a similar picture.

Yet the coalition continues to exert pressure on schools to convert to academy status. Protections for children, young people and parents which existed under the previous system are being stripped away as these academies are no longer being required to employ qualified teachers and the fair admissions code, which prevented selection by ability or parental interview, is now being changed. Financial incentives to convert to academy status are being offered but the details of the amount of taxpayers' money changing hands, and whether or not funding is being allocated on a fair and equitable basis, is cloaked in secrecy. These factors, together with the consequences of yesterday's education white paper, mean that any school considering converting to an academy at this stage is taking a massive, reckless and irreversible step into the unknown.

Free schools were introduced under the same Act of Parliament as the new academies. There are no restrictions on who can open a free school and there is no requirement for those opening a free school to consult with parents, the local community or the local council before opening such a school.

Free schools are based on similar schemes in Sweden and in the US. In these countries, free schools have faced serious criticism on the grounds that their results are no better than other schools, they are not effective for low-performing pupils and, they are unstable and teacher turnover is much higher than other schools.

There is no money for new buildings for free schools. The coalition Government is proposing that existing buildings such as derelict hospitals, disused office blocks, abandoned take-aways and empty shops will be converted into schools.

To facilitate this, the coalition is seeking to sweep aside the planning laws designed to ensure that the site of a school is fit for purpose in terms of its location, accessibility and safety.

The majority of the free schools already approved are faith schools. There is deep concern that, as has happened abroad, the free schools will lead to segregation, causing serious tensions and divisions in local communities.

Free schools and academies are being set up at a time when deep cuts are being made to education and other public service expenditure. Yet, these schools will cost the taxpayer more to establish and will take funding from other schools. Scandalously, some current private independent schools are being allowed to become free schools, acquiring funding from the taxpayer, while still charging fees.

A recent Ipsos MORI poll showed that 95 per cent of the public were against schools being run by private companies, charities and voluntary organisations, with 96 per cent opposed to the concept of parent-led( free) schools. The public want local, democratically accountable schools. Any change to the education system should be to raise standards, tackle disadvantage and inequality and narrow the achievement gap. Nothing in the free schools and academies programme meets these principles.

Parents and the public must see these changes for what they really are. They are the establishment of a system of independent state-funded private schools designed to create a free-market free for all in education and to open up education to commercial activity, allowing private companies to make a profit out of schools.

Anyone who believes in the highest quality of education for all children and young people, who believes in fairness, equity and social justice and who believes in schools being democratically accountable to local people, must oppose academies and free schools.

Chris Keates is general secretary of the NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers).