Most trust CEOs say the stripping away of academy freedoms would have no impact on their ability to run and improve schools.
Findings from a survey of 120 trust bosses, running around 1,000 schools, seem to challenge the narrative that Labour’s reforms – forcing academies to follow the national curriculum and a pay floor – would damage school standards.
Baroness Longfield, the former children’s commissioner who chairs the Centre for Young Lives think-tank, said the findings “put to bed the idea that the entire MAT sector is opposed to the proposals in this important bill.
“It is a good reminder that the most strident critics are often not speaking for everyone.”
‘Critics don’t speak for everyone’
However, the survey did show that one in five trust bosses fear Labour academy reforms will have a negative impact on their work, which is more than the number of leaders who were actually positive about the changes.
The poll, conducted by Edurio for Schools Week, asked leaders for their views on whether the schools bill changes will impact their work.
Questions related to proposals to take away academy freedoms on curriculum, pay and employing unqualified teachers. A fourth question was on Labour’s plans to introduce new trust compliance orders.
Overall, 60 per cent of respondents said the changes “would not affect our work”.
“A lot of loud voices have been campaigning, but the fact of the matter is what the CEOs have said here – these things will not have a big impact,” said former Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Brian Lightman.
However, of those that would be impacted by changes – more said it would have a negative effect (21 per cent). Just 16 per cent said the reforms would have a positive impact.
Confederation of School Trusts CEO Leora Cruddas said the government has “not provided any evidence that the current freedoms cause any harm”.
But she said that removing freedoms “risks doing so for many schools and the children they serve”.
Responding trusts represented a range of sizes. Just over half had fewer than 10 schools, a third had between 10 and 19 and 13 per cent had 20-plus schools.
Concern over QTS changes
Trust leaders were most concerned about proposals for all new teachers to be qualified. While just over two-fifths did not expect to be affected by requirements, 39 per cent said they would be negatively impacted.
One CEO told the pollsters they would “have difficulty filling all vacancies without unqualified teachers” as finding those “who want to work in the SEND world… is very challenging”.
Another stressed that their trust appoints “graduates as unqualified teachers” when they cannot recruit anyone with qualified teacher status. The graduates usually gain qualifications over the following two years.
If the legislation is implemented, this would “cut off an important alternative when recruitment has proven impossible. The current recruitment (and retention) crisis has left us with little other choice.”
When asked about forcing academies to follow a national pay “floor, but no ceiling”, 79 per cent said “it would not affect our work”.
More than half gave the same response to new laws handing the secretary of state wide-ranging powers to issue academy compliance orders.
Under the changes, education secretary Bridget Phillipson would be able to give trusts whatever “directions” she “considers appropriate”.
A further 20 per cent said this would have a “negative impact”, while 11 per cent said it would be a “positive”.
A trust leader responding to the survey said the legislation was “far too loose”, giving the secretary of state “powers of intervention whenever they liked”.
The education secretary “has the role of regulator not line manager”, they added.
‘Suggests wider impact’
Meanwhile, almost 70 per cent of chief executives think the implementation of the national curriculum in all academies will have no impact.
Of the 17 per cent who expressed concern over the policy, some worried it would limit their “flexibility to adapt the curriculum to local contexts and student needs, stifling innovation”, according to Edurio.
Jonathan Simons, partner at Public First consultants, took a different view on the survey.
Pointing to the fact that 37 per cent of trusts would be impacted by the changes in some way, he said it shows “a much greater impact of the bill on the academy sector [than] one might expect.
“It shows academy freedoms are more widely used than commonly thought.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “I know that academy CEOs, and school leaders across the board, want the same thing government does: for every child, wherever they grow up and go to school, to receive a brilliant education.”
