The report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) says without extra resources the government’s flagship education policy will falter and schools will not be able to meet more pressing challenges, including helping pupils catch up on lost learning from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government wants all schools in England to be part of "strong" MATs of at least 10 schools or 7,500 pupils within the next seven years, even though just under halfof all mainstream schools are currently academised.
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Key measures set out in schools white paper
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Key measures proposed in SEND and alternative provision green paper
But ministers will particularly struggle to ensure that all small rural primary schools are part of MATs. The NFER warns that these are less attractive to existing trusts and may be unable to find suitable a suitable group of academies to join.
Instead, the NFER is recommending ministers “focus on a slower transition” and tackle existing challenges, such as Covid-19 recovery, before embarking on “rapid system change”. The charity also wants to see more evidence of what makes a "strong" trust.
Four fifths of 33 directors of children’s services surveyed told researchers the were concerned that some schools would be left behind as MATs would be reluctant to take them on. Just six per cent are in favour of the government’s all-MAT drive.
Two thirds back councils being able to set up their own trusts, but only 39 per cent said they were likely to be able to start this process within the next three years.
NEW - Ambition for rapidly achieving all-MAT system is not possible without the right resources, policy and building MAT capacity.
— National Foundation for Educational Research (@TheNFER) January 26, 2023
For more info:
• Full story - https://t.co/NYxMiG3IHV
• Key findings - https://t.co/dFtm64FDmn
• Report PDF - https://t.co/FBGw36sgC9 pic.twitter.com/UOtg3kUNJl
“Our research shows that a rapid transition to an all-MAT system would require schools to join MATs, and trusts to merge at an unprecedented scale,” said NFER research director Jenna Julius.
“The government needs to prioritise a slower transition that allows more time to build MAT capacity. The suggested pace and timing of system change risks creating issues for trust quality, potentially affecting the educational outcomes for young people.
“It is crucial that efforts and funding to develop and grow capacity in MATs are focused on those schools that may currently struggle to join a MAT and that funding is targeted appropriately to ensure their long-term sustainability.”
The government set out its ambitions around MATs in last year’s schools white paper and subsequent schools bill, which was later dropped.
"This report makes clear that the government’s stated ambition to get all schools into multi-academy trusts (MATs) by 2030 is totally unrealistic,” said Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union.
“Achieving this goal in such a short time frame would require huge upheaval, great cost, and would ultimately be counterproductive.
“The fact that the government persists with this policy indicates that they are not at all concerned by the huge problems in the academies policy and the confusing and fragmented schools landscape brought into being by the expansion of MATs.”
Concerns the union has with academy trusts include “concentration of power in the hands of unaccountable MAT boards” and “undermining” of the views of staff, parents, pupils and councils.
Bousted added: “The government appears to have given up even the pretence that these problems will be addressed. Instead, they want to find new ways to force schools into becoming part of a MAT in order to create a sense of momentum behind an academies policy that was already running out of steam.
“This cannot and should not be a priority of government right now. The crises of recruitment and retention of teachers, not to mention school and college underfunding, should be paramount.”
