The State and Education Policy: The Academies Programme PDF Download

Author: Helen M. Gunter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441135456
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This collection draws together contributions from leading researchers and participants to explore a major reform process of the state and education system in particular. The shift from welfare-based provision of public services to the quasi-market with private delivery and philanthropic investment is an issue that needs a thorough examination through evidence and rigorous argument. This book seeks to do this by not only charting events and providing detailed examination about what is happening but also by locating these developments within a contemporary political and social analytical framework. Topics covered include: * the legal and political process of establishing Academies * the working and impact of Academies using a range of data and perspectives * the debates and issues regarding this major reform, with comparative perspectives. The State and Education Policy shows how the Academies Programme in England is an important site for examining the growth of neoliberal ideas and practices in the framing and delivery of public services such as education.

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102944423
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
An academy is a new type of school that is publicly funded, supported by one or more sponsors and operates independently of the local authority. Their aim is to raise achievement standards in deprived areas by replacing poorly performing schools. By 2006 46 were operating and there are plans for 200 academies to be opened by 2010. This report looks at the capital and running costs, new academy buildings, academic performance, their contribution to tackling social depravation, and the management of the programme. The value for money assessment is that academic progress means that the Academy programme is on track to deliver good value for money. However to achieve this goal it needs to pay attention both to managing the capital costs and the sustainability of funding and performance.

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215036445
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
An academy is a new type of school that is publicly funded, supported by one or more sponsors and operates independently of the local authority. Their aim is to raise achievement standards in deprived areas by replacing poorly performing schools or by providing new school places where they are needed. 83 academies were in operation by September 2007, with plans for 200 academies to be opened by 2010 at a capital cost of around £5 billion. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 254, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944426) published in February 2007, the Committee's report examines the progress of the Academies Programme and whether it is on track to achieve its objectives. Findings include: i) the average capital cost of the first new-build academies was £27 million, compared with between £20-22 million for other new secondary schools; ii) exclusions of pupils are higher on average from academies that other schools; and iii) although there are signs of progress being made, such as improvements at GCSE and key stage 3 levels, achievements in literacy and numeracy levels are lower than other secondary schools and it is too early to tell whether rising attainment is sustainable. Academies need to collaborate more with other secondary schools and lessons need to be learned from completed academy projects in terms of improving project management and reducing cost overruns.

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980479
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
The National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Education has delivered a fundamental change in the nature of the Academies Programme through a rapid, ten-fold increase in the number of academies since May 2010. This increase is a significant achievement. However, the Department was unprepared for the scale of the financial implications arising from such a rapid expansion. In the two years between April 2010 and March 2012, the Department had to meet an estimated £1 billion of additional costs, while remaining within its overall spending limits.By September 2012, 2,309 academies had opened, compared with 203 in May 2010. This represents significant growth of 1,037 per cent, most of which has been from schools choosing to convert to academy status. Academies have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools and the Department's approach to approving applications - coupled with the fact that most converters to date have been outstanding and good schools - appears so far to have managed the risk of schools converting with underlying performance issues. However, more schools with lower Ofsted ratings are now applying to the Programme. Future applicants may therefore require more in-depth assessment and support to manage potential risks.

Author: Helen M. Gunter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 144115017X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This collection draws together contributions from leading researchers and participants to explore a major reform process of the state and education system in particular. The shift from welfare-based provision of public services to the quasi-market with private delivery and philanthropic investment is an issue that needs a thorough examination through evidence and rigorous argument. This book seeks to do this by not only charting events and providing detailed examination about what is happening but also by locating these developments within a contemporary political and social analytical framework. Topics covered include: * the legal and political process of establishing Academies * the working and impact of Academies using a range of data and perspectives * the debates and issues regarding this major reform, with comparative perspectives. The State and Education Policy shows how the Academies Programme in England is an important site for examining the growth of neoliberal ideas and practices in the framing and delivery of public services such as education.

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965476
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The National Audit Office finds that many academies are performing impressively in delivering the Academies Programme's intended improvements. Overall, academies have increased the rate of improvement in GCSE results when compared with trends in their predecessor schools. And although still below the national average, the proportion of pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSEs is improving at a faster rate than in maintained schools with similar intakes. However, a small number of academies have made little progress, particularly when English and mathematics are taken into account. The proportion of academy pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds has reduced, although it remains over twice the national average. The performance of academy pupils from more challenging circumstances has improved over time. However, the attainment gap between these pupils and others has grown wider in academies than in maintained schools with similar intakes, since less disadvantaged pupils appear to benefit more immediately from improved standards at the academy. The increased rate at which new academies have been opening creates challenges around timely staff restructuring and appointment of senior teams. These challenges can impact significantly on teaching and learning, financial health and longer-term sustainability. The Department has identified that just over a quarter of academies may require additional financial or managerial support to secure their longer-term financial health, and a significant number have not received the financial contributions originally pledged by their sponsors. The expansion of the Programme increases the scale of risks to value for money - particularly in the areas of financial sustainability, governance and management capacity.

Author: Geoffrey Walford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317337069
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Academies were introduced by Labour in 2000 and first opened their doors in 2002, but during Labour’s time in power the nature of the Academies changed. At first they were designed to replace existing failing schools but, by 2004, the expectation had widened to provide for entirely new schools where there was a demand for new places. From 2010, under the coalition government, two new types of Academy were introduced. While the original Academies were based on the idea of closing poor schools and replacing them by dramatically redesigned and restructured ones, the 2010 Academies Act allowed existing highly successful state-maintained schools to apply to become Academies as well. Further, while Labour had restricted Academy status to secondary schools, the Coalition extended it to primary and special schools. The result is that there has been a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of Academies. In addition to this, the 2010 Act introduced Free Schools, wherein groups of parents, teachers, or other sponsors can apply to start their own state-maintained, but officially ‘independent’, schools. These schools can either be completely new or the result of existing private schools applying to become state-maintained. The results of these changes remain under-researched. This book puts forward new research that examines the history and nature of Academies and Free Schools, the processes by which they have come into existence, and their effects in terms of social justice. The contributors do not all speak with one voice, but rather present a diversity of views on these important topics. Included in the collection are the results of research on pupil outcomes and socio-economic segregation; issues of identity and ethos in church academies; the problems of establishing free schools; the history of policy on Academies; and a comparison between Swedish independent schools and Academies and Free Schools. This book was originally published as a special issue of Research Papers in Education.

Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102954593
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
(BSF) programme believe that it is leading to more strategic procurement of school infrastructure than previous school building programmes. Local Authorities are using BSF to rearrange the location, type and number of schools in their area and create facilities and school environments which support their educational objectives. BSF schools are built to higher specifications and space standards than previous schools. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Partnerships for Schools (the body established by DCSF to manage the BSF programme centrally) were too optimistic in their assumptions of how quickly the first schools could be delivered. By December 2008, only 42 of the planned 200 schools had been built, with 54 due to open next year and 121 the year after. To include all schools in the programme, 250 schools will need to be built a year and the number of schools in procurement and construction at any one time will need to double from 2011 onwards. The extent to which problems in the finance markets will affect BSF is still unclear. DCSF and Partnerships for Schools estimate that the total cost of renewing the school estate will be between £52 billion to £55 billion which is £7 billion to £10 billion more than was estimated at the outset of the programme.

Author: Elizabeth Leo
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 184769487X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Behind the headlines and controversy surrounding new academy schools, many of their principals, teachers and pupils have been quietly changing the culture of learning and achievement in some of the most disadvantaged communities in England. While successful innovation and change is not unique to academies, this book illustrates how the academy policy represents a significant opportunity to improve the life chances of their pupils. Too much attention has focused on unanswerable questions about whether academies are better or worse than their predecessor or comparable schools in their neighbourhood. Too little focus has been on what policy makers and practitioners can learn from the different, and often conflicting, perspectives of the key players, notably sponsors, architects, principals, parents and pupils in order to create a school that can truly serve their community with distinction.

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215556066
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Academies are state schools which are independent of local authorities and directly accountable to the Department for Education. This report focuses on the performance of sponsored academies (271 on 5 January 2011), usually established to raise educational standards at under performing schools in deprived areas. They have performed impressively to date, achieving rapid academic improvements and raising aspirations in some of the most deprived areas in the country. An important feature of the sponsored model is the role of the sponsors themselves: individuals or organisations who contribute financially, directly or in kind, and who bring expertise and a new approach to the schools they run. But there are concerns. There are already signs of potential financial and governance instability: there needs to be a strong framework with which academies must comply to ensure probity and effective governance across the Programme in the future. While the Department has issued guidance on internal controls and financial management, it has not made important elements mandatory, and many academies are not complying. The report notes some existing sponsors have failed to fulfil the financial contributions they originally pledged to their academies. The Young People's Learning Agency, responsible for funding and monitoring academies, are planning to overhaul academies' governance and accountability, with an emphasis on light-touch regulation. However, light-touch central regulation can only meet the standards for managing public money if it is accompanied by robust controls at academy level to ensure good governance and clear accountability.