Stories + Views: Academies

Page 5 of 46« First...34567...102030...Last »
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Too many Government initiatives and the focus on structures and systems are drawing attention away from the classroom, says Academy Commission

Note: words in brackets are those of the author. The avalanche of Government initiatives and reforms, changes in Ofsted and so on, was leaving heads uneasy. It was this that was preventing schools from being innovative. Only 16% of the Teach First respondents to the Commission’s survey thought that innovations with teachers’ terms and conditions of service had a positive impact. This ... read more and comment →

39 comments

Latest comment by Leonard James: ""Here’s some more information about gagging orders: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/dump-fing-everyone-the-inside-story-of-how-michael-goves-vicious-attack-dogs-are-terrorising-the-dfe-8497626.html I wouldn’t want to suggest they’re all to do with Ofsted." This is what you did suggest...."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Meraud: A bit of a punt……

I came across an idea serendipitously, and thought that it applies rather well to what I suspect may be going on around Michael Gove at the moment... It's the concept of 'incestuous amplification', originally a US military term for the effects of embattled groupthink; this is the definition from Jane's Defense Weekly: 'Incestuous Amplification: A condition in warfare where one only listens ... read more and comment →

8 comments

Latest comment by Ivan Godfrey: "Absolutely - the DfE response ignored virtually all the Select Committee's findings. Having written to Graham Stuart, the Tory chair of the committee, I received a letter today from the committee secretariat saying 'Your letter and the points you raise have ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Innovation is inhibited by league tables not by lack of freedom says Commission

It’s a central plank of the Government’s flagship academy programme: if schools want to innovate then they must free themselves from local authority "control" and become academies. But the Academies Commission found it’s not lack of freedom that’s preventing schools from innovating. It’s league tables and Ofsted. The Commission wrote that it had “heard considerable evidence that the current accountability framework inhibits change and innovation.” ... read more and comment →

2 comments

Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Graham Stuart, chair of the Education Select Committee, said in the EBacc debate: "...our accountability is driven and focused to an obsessive and damaging extent. It pushes schools to focus desperately on trying to get people over the line, and yet ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Henry Stewart: Schools GCSE Data: How the Government Will Present It

This Thursday the DfE will release the detailed data on how each secondary school in England performed at GCSEs in 2012, including comparison to previous years, figures with and without GCSE equivalents and comparison by free school meal status and by (low, medium or high) performance of students at age 11. It is a remarkably useful and comprehensive set of ... read more and comment →

22 comments

Latest comment by Neil Moffatt: "And of course, Michael Gove was himself just that - a journalist...."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Media ignores DfE academy spin

“More than 2,600 schools now open as academies,” trumpets a recent Department for Education (DFE) press release. But the media has ignored the spin. Instead, the media concentrated on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. And when it did mention academies (the school variety) it focussed mainly on the Academies Commission findings that some academies manipulated their ... read more and comment →

2 comments

Latest comment by Janet Downs: "No - the DfE press release makes it all sound so wonderful. However, we've got evidence of a school jumping before it was pushed, primary schools being intimidated and schools converting because they thought they'd get extra cash. ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Henry Stewart: Academies: Do the DfE Claims Stack Up?

The 2nd release of detailed school level GCSE data is due next week, on 24th January. As the government has made clear that its primary programme for school improvement is academy conversion, this information is important. It enables analysis of whether schools who become academies do better and therefore whether there is any basis to the £1 billion plus that ... read more and comment →

6 comments

Latest comment by Neil Moffatt: "Thanks - well said and highly pertinent. I have joined the Labour party, SEA, sent letters to my local MP, yet the process for reacting to the narrow, accountability/punitive driven nature of schools remains out of my influence. I would love ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: “Most things an academy can do, a maintained school can also do,” says Academies Commission

Secretary of State, Michael Gove, said academy heads were improving the education of pupils in their academies by the following: “Longer school days; better paid teachers; remedial classes; more personalised learning; improved discipline; innovative curricula…” This is what the Academies Commission found: "In short, many maintained schools have, in the words of the Secretary of State, introduced extended school days, remedial classes, more ... read more and comment →

No comments

Be the first to comment!

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Roger Titcombe: There is an Academy effect: it’s negative

This analysis by Terry Wrigley posted on his website  (see under 'research') examines in detail the various claims made by Government of the benefits of academy schools. It seeks to determine whether there is indeed an ‘academies effect’ in terms of improving school performance. Terry has been researching Academies for many years. His website is a great resource. This particular paper ... read more and comment →

4 comments

Latest comment by Neil Moffatt: "Excellent to see such a powerful argument against the political rhetoric. However, there is a slight problem in marginalising 'equivalent' qualifications - whilst they may be easier for the non-academically able to get those precious grades, they should not ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Andrew Bethell: Cooperative Trusts

Somewhat against my better judgement, at the primary school where I chair the governors we are starting the process of looking at what the alternatives are to becoming academy. There is little enthusiasm for this move but as our LA support systems seem to be disappearing and other schools in the area are clearly looking for alternatives too, we are, ... read more and comment →

6 comments

Latest comment by Dominique Mann: "Worth getting in touch with Trisha Jaffe, a former colleague of both of us and now headteacher of Corelli Academy (formerly Kidbrooke School) which is now part of a co-operative trust...."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Schools already have considerable freedoms, says Academies Commission. Why, then, do schools need to convert to gain “freedom”?

The Government’s said it again and again: schools need to become academies in order to gain “autonomy” and “freedom from local authority control”. But the Academies Commission admitted that UK schools already have considerable freedoms. Among other evidence they cite the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2009 before the Coalition took power*. “The reality is that ... read more and comment →

3 comments

Latest comment by Janet Downs: "And there's more: converter academies "could have implemented the innovations they were considering (mostly in the area of curriculum development) as a maintained school." This rather explodes the myth about "innovation". The Department for Education is being strangely quiet about the Academies ......"

Comment + Debate
Page 5 of 46« First...34567...102030...Last »