GOVERNMENT MAKES U TURN ON SCHOOL ACADEMIES

A new rhetoric for the idea to be ”aspirational” rather than a compulsory policy”, now seems to be the direction being taken by the education secretary.Until now,  the plan was to force  mainstream schools in England to be taken out of the control of local education authorities and convert to academies by 2020, or be committed to doing so two years later at the latest. Over 60 % of schools have already converted to academies, with over 10,000 still under the ILEA authority.

The well intended plans saw  Tory council chiefs and ministers face a potential revolt from backbench MPs, so Ms Morgan wisely chose to avoid facing a embarrassing defeat over the issue.

The Department for Education (DfE) said ministers had listened to feedback from MPs, teachers, school leaders and parents since publishing the proposals in a White Paper.

Officials stressed the Government was still committed to seeing all schools becoming academies, but will now back track on new laws forcing the “blanket conversion” of all schools .

In a statement, Mrs Morgan said: “Making every school an academy is the best way to ensure every child, regardless of birth or background, has access to a world-class education.
“I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from Parliamentary colleagues and the education sector we will now change the path to reaching that goal.

“By focusing our efforts on those schools most at risk of failing young people, and encouraging ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools to seize the opportunities of conversion, we will ensure the continued growth of the academy programme, empowering front line heads and school leads, and transforming even more children’s education.”Under-performing schools will still be required to convert to academies where they can benefit from a local sponsor, while good schools will also be supported if they wish to change status.
In the last month 104 directive academy orders have been issued to failing schools, while the most recent monthly figures show 227 schools have put in applications to convert – the highest since the programme began.However, the Government still plans to introduce powers which could trigger the conversion of all schools within a local authority if it is failing to meet a “minimum performance threshold”, or if a “critical mass” of schools in the area have already become academies and the council can no longer viably support its remaining schools.Ms Keates said: “Although the plan to convert every school to an academy has been dropped, the Government is still subjecting schools in particular Ofsted categories to forced academisation, and still regards structural change as the answer to raising standards.
“This aspect of the academisation policy has not changed and the NASUWT will continue to challenge it.”Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said: “It is welcome news that the Tory Government has finally listened to Labour and the alliance of head teachers, parents and local government who opposed these plans, and dropped the forced academisation of all schools.
“It is frankly a humiliating climbdown for David Cameron and his Education Secretary, who just weeks ago were insisting they would plough on with the policy regardless.”There remain enormous challenges facing our schools under the Tories, and their fixation with structures has distracted school leaders and created panic in the schools system, at the expense of raising standards.

“Ministers must urgently tackle the serious problems they have created in education, including school budgets falling in real terms for the first time in 20 years, chronic shortages of teachers, not enough good school places, and chaos and confusion in the exams system. This Government’s failed approach to education is letting down our children and will hold back young people for years to come.”

The plan for the academisation of schools from the education secretary is positive because of the appalling stare of education in many parts of the country. Many people leave secondary schools without the competent skills of written communication. Discipline is weak in many schools, preventing teachers from being able to bring the best out of students. Converting schools into academies will force standards to rise and put desirable pressure on teachers to enhance the ability of teachers to instill high standards in schools.

The wide objections from teachers unions should be closely examined. Exactly what are the objections based on? Nicky Morgan’s vision for schools is commendable, and it seems the outcry against her commendably ambitious plans are without legitimate basis, There could even be an underlying sexist basis to her well intended plans.  Here, we have a strong woman with  an awesome vision to improve  the educational standards of the country and what we have is a group of emotional individuals opposing it.

As is the case with politics, majority get their say but minority is sometimes right, as is the case here. There are several examples of school leavers who lack the basic skills of writing a letter or communicating effectively, yet people are opposing a legendary plan to transform the quality of British education. Her back tracking on what was a tremendous plan for the country is to protect her job, but shame on all those opposing her! A national debate on this matter is actually necessary. However, even if we accept the currently inevitable position of aspiring to her goals without it being compulsory, she has set a high and respectable standard for British education.

The eye of media.com is in full support of Nicky organ’s plans for the country, and what we say is that every school has the burden to raise the standard of education of our kids. The spate of crime, aimless activities of teenagers and youths, often boils down to lack of quality education. Instead of making life hard for this honorable and visionary woman, she should have our unreserved support. Britain is behind many EU countries when it comes to quality education, and we are not talking of private education, but rather schools in general.

The government’s U turn on plans to force all schools in Britain to become academies is a gift to the country many will realize many years to come.Let’s just hope something positive comes out of it sooner rather than later.