Taken From the PublicFinance.co.uk

principle

It seems that everyone now loves academies. Politicians are queuing up to declare their allegiance to these supposed saviours of secondary school standards.
We all know that Tony Blair is a fan – he recently announced a doubling in the number of academies to 400 and is supporting an extension to primary schools. Gordon Brown also declared this week that as prime minister he would continue to promote and finance the initiative.
But the enthusiasm from the Conservatives surpasses even this. Their leader, David Cameron, took time out from his sojourn as a teaching assistant to confirm that grammar schools were no longer seen as the best way forward. Instead, a Tory government would ‘put rocket boosters’ on the expansion of academies.
It’s easy to see the appeal. Academies offer the prospect of shiny new schools in areas previously catered for by failing institutions, while simultaneously keeping the middle classes on board. And, of course, they come with a £2m sponsorship package.
For politicians keen to promise social mobility – notably Education Secretary Alan Johnson and his shadow David Willetts – the idea is irresistible.
Yet there is little evidence so far to suggest that academies are worth the government’s current £5bn investment.
A recent report from the National Audit Office found that two-thirds of the first phase had gone over budget by an average of £3m. The watchdog was also critical of pupil performance in the key subjects of English and maths. Rather than creating hundreds of new academies, which might take years to design and construct, surely it would be better to concentrate on improving the ‘bog-standard’ schools.
With figures published in Public Finance this week showing that in some English towns and cities over 15% of 16–18 year olds are not in education, employment or training, all is clearly not well in our secondary school system (see Teenage jobless rate reflects wider deprivation).
Academies are a useful addition to the options available to the government, but they cannot be a panacea for ills that go a lot deeper.
Article Date: 18-May-2007