THE LATEST NEWS AND INFORMATION ON ACADEMIES, FREE SCHOOLS AND PRIVATISATION ISSUES FROM THE NUT’S PRIVATISATION IN EDUCATION UNIT
NUMBER 36, SEPTEMBER 2013
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ACADEMIES CAMPAIGNS
Second Copland strike over academy plan
One day strike action by NUT, NASUWT and ATL members closed Copland Community School in LB Brent on 3 July. The action was in protest at plans to force the school to become an academy. Teachers were joined by parents and supporters in a march to Brent Civic Centre where they dumped an effigy of the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, in a dustbin.
Brent Council had tried to put a stop to the action by claiming that the strike was unlawful but all three Unions’ legal experts said that this was not the case and that the strike should go ahead. Jean Roberts, Joint NUT Secretary said “If Brent were so sure it was unlawful why did they not taken out an injunction? This appears to be an attempt at intimidation”.
Following a previous day of strike action in May, unions and action groups wrote to the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, requesting an urgent meeting. They are demanding a secret ballot of all staff and parents before any decisions are made about Copland's future and a commitment from the Government to rebuild the dilapidated school buildings that Ofsted has stated are not fit for purpose and have adversely effected pupils' education.
Primary to become Harris academy despite overwhelming opposition
Camden junior school in Carshalton, Surrey, has been told by the DfE that it must become an academy as part of the Harris Federation, despite the fact that 98 per cent of respondents to an official consultation voted against the move. Parents and staff had overwhelmingly backed the local Greenshaw high school becoming the school’s sponsor and say their voices have been ignored by the DfE. (Guardian, 19.08.13)
ACADEMIES
Secret plans to allow academy profits and land sell off
The Independent has reported that Education Secretary Michael Gove is secretly planning a radical redesign of regulations to allow academies and free schools to become profit-making businesses using hedge funds and venture capitalists to raise money. The newspaper claims that the plans were leaked by DfE insiders concerned at the speed and scale of the Government’s academies programme and worried that the new setup would divert cash from classrooms, limit the availability of "expensive" subjects and end the public service vocation of teachers. According to the paper, senior sources at the DfE say that Gove is considering the radical restructuring because advisers have predicted his reforms will stall unless operators and sponsors are given new financial incentives. It is also thought that the Education Secretary is examining proposals for academy schools that control large sites to be able to sell off or sub-let former council-owned land, and then use the money to rebuild or refurbish schools.
It is understood that the pressure for further change comes from leading academy operators. The chief executive of a leading academies trust, who spoke to The Independent on the condition of anonymity, said: "Michael Gove understands the current business model for academies is not viable. We invest in failing schools that we take over. But it is not really investment because there is no return. Written into our funding agreement are explicit criteria which say we cannot borrow, and cannot enter into lease agreements of any significance." He added: "Being allowed to make a profit means we could raise money to fund expansion, by borrowing against our existing assets, namely our schools."
Another executive said: "If Mr Gove wants to free up the academy programme - and he does - then to do this properly, he will have to loosen up the rules on the disposal of land. Some academy sites have sites bigger than they need and selling of a bit might allow academies to have great buildings. For those worried this is asset-stripping or profit-at-all costs, performance targets for academies could justify these changes."
Commenting on the reports NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said that if those providing education were answering "first and foremost to their shareholders, then corners will be cut." She predicted that expensive subjects and facilities such as science labs "will simply not be available", adding: "Parents will be aghast that their children could soon be taught by unqualified teachers in schools where the central driver is profit.” (The Independent, 01.07.13)
Overseas pupils could be charged for places at academies
Academies and free schools may be asked to offer places to overseas pupils as part of the Government's "education exports strategy", according to reports in the Evening Standard and The Times. A letter from PM David Cameron's private secretary to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, obtained by The Times, asked universities minister David Willetts to work with the DfE on increasing the role of schools in the export strategy, which also includes a drive to attract international students to UK universities. The letter said: "While the academies/free schools programme should focus on consolidating domestic progress over the next couple of years, we should look at export potential too. This should include consideration of allowing international students to access places at academies."
While there was no mention of fees being charged to foreign students The Times quoted an unnamed "Whitehall insider" as suggesting that any international students at state schools are likely to have to pay: "This week the Government has launched a blitz to stop foreigners getting free access to the NHS. Therefore the idea that international pupils would attend British state schools for free is a non-starter."
http://www.standard.co.uk/panewsfeeds/academies-plan-for-foreign-pupils-8687584.html
Lord Nash – academy chains don’t need to be inspected
Schools’ Minister Lord Nash has insisted that academy chains do not need to be inspected by Ofsted because ministers and civil servants regularly hold meetings with them. Lord Nash founded academy chain Future, which sponsors Pimlico Academy and Millbank Academy, both in central London. He became Schools’ Minister after being ennobled in January 2013. He is also a former donor to the Conservative Party. Speaking to an audience at the Independent Academies Association national conference in July he said: “We don’t see at the moment the need for Ofsted to inspect academy chains. We already get all of the data on how their schools are performing…We know all of the academy chains well and meet them on a regular basis, so if we have a concern we can discuss it with them then”.
Ofsted has recently re-introduced inspections of local education authorities and there have been calls for similar inspections of academy chains, some of which are directly responsible for large numbers of schools. (TES, 16.07.13)
Minister overruled civil servants on academy chain expansion
Private Eye claims that an Education Minister overruled a decision by civil servants to prevent an academy chain from taking on further schools in 2012. According to DfE documents released to the magazine following a Freedom of Information request, Vincent McDonnell the managing director of education firm and academy sponsor Prospects sought urgent meetings with then Schools’ Minister Lord Hill after the organisation was told by DfE officials that it was “currently ‘paused’ with regard to further sponsored academy projects” because of an “inadequate” Ofsted judgement at Gloucester Academy, a school it had sponsored since March 2010.
A “feedback” note of the eventual meeting between Lord Hill, McDonnell and Prospects’ Leslie Stephens in October 2012 says: “Lord Hill wants to progress these deferred/on hold Prospects projects asap. Lord Hill’s view was that unless we have very strong reasons not to do so we should now approve these and start afresh with Prospects on a case-by-case basis.”
Lord Hill’s intervention resulted in Prospects being given five more schools, despite further reservations being expressed by DfE officials. In February 2013, however, Ofsted found that one of these, Bexhill Academy, was also “inadequate” and put the secondary into special measures. In June inspectors returned to the school and said Prospects’ improvement plan was not “fit for purpose”. (Private Eye, 1346, 9-22 August 2013)
£8.7 million spent on academy brokers
DfE documents released following a freedom of information request reveal that £8.7m was spent from 2010-13 on “academy brokers” – consultants employed by the Department to push schools into academy status. The total spend on the brokers was £4.4m in 2012-13; £2.8m in 2011-12; and £1.5m in 2010-11. As of June 2013, there were 37 brokers working with the Department. If the same numbers of brokers were contracted each year, this averages out to around £100,000 per year per broker. (Guardian, 22.07.13)
AET paid £500,000 to trustees’ businesses
England’s largest academy chain, Academy Enterprise Trust (AET), paid almost £500,000 over three years to private businesses owned by its trustees and executives, an investigation by the Observer has revealed. Company accounts show that a series of payments were made to companies in which those running AET had a beneficial interest for services ranging from "project management" to "HR consultancy".
Ian Comfort, who has been company secretary since April 2012, was paid £232,960 in addition to his undisclosed salary for project management services that year. A series of payments to AET's trustees have also been revealed. Foster Project and Leadership Development, which is owned by Ian Foster, a trustee and chairman of AET, received payments of £70,478 in 2012; £41,693 in 2011; and £59,773 in 2010. In the year ending August 2010, a company called Frank Butler Human Resources, owned by another trustee, received £21,408. Trustee Steve Leverett received £12,504 in 2011 and £36,878 in 2010, in relation to his role in checking the accounts.
While such payments are not unlawful they are described as "not normal practice" in a document published by the regulator of academies this month, and drawn up following consultation with the Charity Commission.
The chain also encourages its academies to use recruitment firm Synarbor when hiring teachers. David Triggs, who as chief executive of AET was paid £214,535 in 2012, was also a director of Synarbor until April this year.
AET's most recent accounts state that the chain had a "serious" budget deficit, although one that is not an "immediate threat" to its viability. AET will be running 80 schools from this month but in March 2013 it was widely reported that the DfE had barred the chain from taking over more schools because of concerns that its rapid expansion was affecting standards. (The Observer, 20.07.13)
Academy chain to break Government pay ceiling
An academy chain has announced that it will break the Government’s pay ceiling for public sector workers by offering all its teachers a 1.5 per cent pay rise. United Learning, which employs around 3,000 teachers in its 25 academies, will also pay all new recruits on the teaching starting salary five per cent more than they would receive under the current teachers’ salary scale.
Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning and a former senior civil servant at the Department for Education, said: “The Chancellor has said he wants to see [pay rises of] no more than one per cent for public service employees. We don’t agree with that. Part of our job is to make sure there is good value for public money; we believe we need to attract great teachers and the only way to do that is to make sure we offer an attractive package for teachers to come to our schools.” (The Independent, 18.08.13)
Academy teachers under pressure to inflate grades
Public Concern at Work (PCW), Britain's biggest whistleblowing charity, says that a significant number of teachers at academy schools have contacted their confidential helpline to claim they are being pressured to artificially inflate pupils' grades. PCW has seen an 80 per cent increase in the number of complaints from the education sector over the last 12 months. The charity’s policy director, Francesca West, said there had been a noticeable increase in calls from academy staff who say they have been under pressure to inflate their students' marks. "Many of these concerns have come from teachers within schools with new academy status that are under pressure to maintain high results," she said, adding: “We think that a lot of teachers are looking for support from us now because of the removal of oversight by local authorities. Where we see it being most challenging for teachers to raise concerns is in academy schools.” (Guardian, 11.08.13)
Food standards in academies
A Government-commissioned report into nutrition in schools has recommended that food in all schools should be subject to the same standards and guidelines. The report was commissioned following criticism that guidelines on the nutritional content of food served in schools only apply to maintained schools, leading many, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, to accuse the Education Secretary of risking children's health and educational prospects.
The latest report was written by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, founders of the food chain Leon. The authors claim to “have worked with the Medical Research Council and our own expert panel to develop a set of simpler food standards, which we believe will be easier to implement and enforce.” According to the DfE the revised food-based standards are to be tested and introduced from 2014. The report also recommends that the Government should introduce free school meals for all primary school pupils, starting with the most deprived areas, and recommends that packed lunches be banned.