Schools shake-up ushers in academies everywhere as councils left in the cold

The government’s education white paper Educational Excellence Everywhere sets out plans to radically reduce the role of local authorities in overseeing education services.

Under the plans, all primary and secondary schools will be required to convert to academy status by 2022 and become part of multi-academy trusts (MATs), while local authorities will also lose their responsibility for commissioning alternative education provision for excluded and vulnerable children.

The reforms, combined with proposed funding changes, look set to put an end to councils’ role as the “middle tier” of education in England. They also leave many unanswered questions about who will take on many of the statutory responsibilities councils currently have for education services (see below).

So what obstacles does the government face in implementing the reforms, will local authorities have a part to play and can they improve outcomes for disadvantaged children?

Converting schools

Since the 2010 Academies Act triggered a rapid expansion of the programme, the government has struggled to find enough quality academy sponsors for the 5,000 schools that have converted over that time. There have been mixed results for academies, with the education select committee and Ofsted both warning last year that the standards in many MATs were not good enough.

With 16,000 primaries needing to convert to academies and become part of a MAT during the next six years, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says it will be a “major challenge” to find sufficient high-quality sponsors. This could take time, so the IPPR says high-performing authorities should be allowed to set up “arm’s-length trusts” to help the transition process.

Jonathan Clifton, associate director for public services at IPPR, says authorities such as Hackney, Barnet and Haringey have proved they can compete with the best MATs in terms of pupil exam results.

“These authorities should be allowed to set up their own arm’s-length trusts to help support the move to a fully academised system,” he says.

Clive Webster, chief executive of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership, a 21-school MAT in Kent, and a former director of children’s services in Southampton, says the government announcement could see the creation of more academy groups.

“Groups of schools working together with the sole focus of continuous educational improvement is a good thing,” he says. “But are there enough MATs or groups of schools to form into a trust? The challenge is to make it happen in a way that allows each school to be part of a viable group.”

Webster says standalone academies or small groups of schools are not financially viable, so the government should outline what the optimum scale of MATs should be – a report by the Reform think-tank last year recommended a minimum of 30 schools.

He adds that schools grouping together in sufficient numbers to be sustainable will be more straightforward in urban areas, but much harder to achieve in rural communities.

This could put some areas with high levels of deprivation at a major disadvantage, so Webster says more funding should be allocated to them to reflect this.

Webster also says that authorities with “a strong track record” will continue to have a hands-on role in school improvement.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if by 2022 there are areas where schools haven’t taken any steps to become an academy and larger authorities approach government to ask to be their academy trust,” he says.

School improvement

Proposals in the government’s recently published consultation on schools funding outline how nearly £600m in 2017/18 will be removed from the Education Services Grant (ESG), which is given to councils and academies to deliver a range of services, including school improvement.

The proposals – first announced in last November’s Spending Review – signal the end of local government’s role in school improvement, says the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU).

“The paper is clear that school improvement will cease to be a funded local authority responsibility from April 2017,” an LGiU statement says.

Webster says the ESG, which is given directly to a school when it converts to an academy instead of the council, is an important funding stream to improve education provision.

“The ESG has fallen from £170 per pupil a few years ago to £77 this year. If that figure continues to fall, then it will cause problems,” he adds.

While local government leaders disagree with the government’s academy plans, Webster believes some councils will respond quickly in acting upon them.

“Some local authorities will seek to jettison education [responsibility] as soon as possible,” he says. “They are under financial pressure and you may see some saying ‘off you go’.”

Standards and accountability

In launching the white paper, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said change was necessary because the current system had failed to sufficiently reduce the attainment gap for the most disadvantaged pupils. Forcing all schools to become academies and group together will enable them to work collaboratively to raise education standards and share best practice, she believes.

If councils are taken out of school improvement, responsibility for managing local education provision will rest with MATs. But there is little scrutiny of them, and earlier this year Ofsted criticised the progress made by 10 of the most well established MATs. The Local Government Association (LGA) says this highlights the major flaw in the government’s plans.

“Only 15 per cent of the largest MATs perform above the national average when it comes to how much progress pupils make, compared with 44 per cent of councils,” says Richard Watts, vice-chair of the LGA’s children and young people board.

The concerns have prompted the education select committee to launch an inquiry into the performance, accountability and governance of MATs.

Nationally, MATs are held to account by eight regional school commissioners, but the LGA says they lack the local knowledge and capacity to do the job properly.

“Asking parents to take complaints to either their commissioner or the Education Secretary, rather than their local elected councillors, presents a lack of accountability and a risk to the quality of education,” Watts adds.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has similar concerns. “We have previously raised concerns that commissioners are on too large a scale to effectively oversee schools across large geographical areas, covering multiple local authorities,” says Alison O’Sullivan, outgoing president of the ADCS.

School places

Under the government’s plans, local authorities will retain responsibility for ensuring there are sufficient school places, meeting the education needs of vulnerable children and championing parents’ rights to access good-quality education.

However, councils cannot force academies to expand, raising questions over how they will be able to create extra places for the anticipated rise in school-age children.

The IPPR says the white paper does nothing to address the “huge pressures” schools are under as a result of the rising school population, increasing the risk that “some parents will struggle to find a school place”.

It recommends that in areas where there are shortages, local authorities should be able to force academies to expand.

“It is wrong that neither councils nor government will have any powers to force local schools to expand if they don’t want to,” the LGA’s Watts adds.

Leadership duties

The government is to consult later in the year on how the myriad of proposed changes to the education system will affect the functions and duties of local authorities. There are about 200 statutory duties authorities have for children and young people, with many requiring primary legislation to change.

“We need to clarify these statutory duties and decide which must stay and are too risky to delegate to arrangements that are not sufficiently tried and tested,” says Webster.

O’Sullivan says children’s services have a “moral imperative” to ensure all services improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

“The ADCS will be engaging fully and robustly with government on the review of local authorities’ functions and responsibilities, including the consideration of the role of the director of children’s services,” she adds.

Critical functions of the education system

John Freeman identifies the key unanswered questions raised by the government education reforms

• School planning – where should schools be built to meet local needs?
• Disaster management – if there is a disaster, who will ensure continuity of service?
• School funding – who should take proper account of local circumstances?
• School quality assurance – who, locally, will check every school is doing a good job?
• School improvement – who is going to provide schools with support and challenge to improve?
• School admissions – who is going to make sure that school admissions are fair for all?
• School exclusions – who will ensure children are excluded on proper and not spurious grounds?
• School attendance – who is going to make sure that every child attends school?
• Careers advice – who is going to give children clear and unbiased careers advice?
• School transport – who will make sure school transport is effective and cost-efficient?
• Additional needs – who is going to make sure children with additional needs receive a fair deal?
• Children in care/in need – who is going to look out for children in the care system?
• Safeguarding – who is going to check that schools ensure every child is safe?
• Vulnerable children – who is going to ensure that vulnerable children (including those at risk from radicalisation and exploitation) receivea fair deal?
• Local complaints – who will handle local complaints not dealt with by the school?
• Home education – who is going to make sure that every child is properly educated?
• Financial management – who is going to help if a school gets into financial problems?

John Freeman is a former director of children’s services and now a freelance consultant