- Conference
- 2009 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 23 February 2009
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned to hear that the Director of Children’s Services at Plymouth City Council is considering the possibility of setting up academy schools in Plymouth despite having always been against them in the past. Furthermore, it is alarming to hear that the reason for this change of heart is due to Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) pressure and financial blackmail of councils by saying that if there are no academies incorporated in their ‘Strategy for Change’ submission under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, then the funding may be delayed. This would mean Plymouth having to wait for the finance that it needs for rebuilding its schools in the short to medium term.
We also note that four anti-academy campaigners were elected to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council, which had planned to replace; three schools with an academy. The four gains were by candidates for the group Our Schools Are Not For Sale (OSANFS).
Conference takes the view that the English academies programme in its present form should be vigorously opposed for a whole raft of reasons including the following:
1) In 2005 every academy place cost £7,000 more than a maintained school
place;
2) In order to justify this massive extra amount of money, major improvements
in performance would need to be seen and there is currently insufficient
evidence to show that these levels of improvement have been achieved;
3) Academies are not bound by educational law and there is currently little
or no representation for parents, pupils’ staff and local authorities on the
boards of governors so there is little accountability to the academy’s local
community. Although the DCSF appears to be softening its approach
and allowing more involvement of the local authorities, this still falls short
of what is acceptable and the price authorities are paying for this is being
put under pressure to incorporate academies in their ‘Strategy for Change’
under BSF;
4)Academies set their own terms and conditions are are not bound by any national terms and conditions agreements for staff. This could lead to extensions of daily hours and/or number of weeks worked per year for academy staff;
5)For the outlay of a relatively small amount of money sponsors gain a disproportionate amount of control over the academies almost in perpetuity. There is also evidence of sponsors doing ‘Sweetheart’ deals for academy goods and services with other parts of their own organisations;
6)The academies programme has proved to be controversial, divisive and ill conceived causing alienation amongst key stakeholders and also appears to be at odds with the more integrated approach to children’s services promoted by other government programmes.
Conference resolves to:
a)Challenge Plymouth City Council to fully explain and justify their new position on academies;
b)Conduct a publicity campaign to reach the school workforce, school governors, councillors, local MPs and the general public in order to alert
them to the dangers and pitfalls of academies;
c)Continue to distribute to branches all Anti-Academies Alliance reports including the new Councillors Briefing;
d)Continute to encourage branches and regions to consider affiliating to the Anti-Academies Alliance;
e) Continue the joint anti-academies campaign work with the other education unions and the joint approach to union recognition using the model TUC agreement.
To call upon the government to:
i)Establish an independent panel of experts to review the whole of the government’s school improvement strategy;
ii)Based on the evidence of the review, present a considered and coherent overall policy for schools improvement;
iii)Reform the flawed features of the academies programme in particular those relating to accountability and the roles of sponsors;
iv)Continue the trend towards greater local authority involvement, including sponsorship and move to reintegrate academies back into the local authority family of schools;
v)Work with all school workforce unions to achieve the same entitlement to union recognition as in other schools and to protect pay and conditions in academies.