David Marriott ACADEMIES: TO BE OR NOT TO BE?. Useful resources: Academy conversion decision-making toolkit (NCOGS 2010) Topic 1: Academy Decision-making.

David MarriottACADEMIES:

TO BE OR NOT TO BE?

Useful resources:Academy conversion

decision-making toolkit (NCOGS 2010)

Topic 1: Academy Decision-making Process and Consultation

Topic 2: Academies – Considering the Differences and Implications

Topic 3: Academy law – notes on the emerging picture

Academies: research into the leadership of sponsored and converting academies (NC 2011)

Becoming an Academy (DfE) – heads talk about how they did it

Downloadable, along with many other useful documents, from www.thegovernor.org.uk

DfE website – search for “Academies” (www.education.gov.uk)

NGA Q and A on Academies (www.nga.org.uk)

NOBODY KNOWS EVERYTHING

CHANGES IN FUNDING

National budget deficits reduced education budget Budget uncertainty from April 2012 with changes to national

funding formula likely; impacting maintained & academy schools alike

Reduction in ring-fencing of funds means virtually all income will be received as part of one main grant (referred to as LACSEG monies)

Introduction of new pupil premium income for students eligible for Free School Meal (FSM), children of armed forces personnel and Looked After Children (LAC)

Increasing year on year costs even if things stay staticExpected 30% reduction in Post 16 funding over next 3

years

• Reduction in funding has led to significant re-structure and a traded services model • SIP role to be outsourced

from Sept 2011

•Many ex-SIPs will be in the market for work

•Headteacher PM must still involve an external expert

• Retained responsibility for:

•Champion for Parents and Families

•Supporting Vulnerable Children

•Champions for Educational Excellence

•General duties under 1996 and 2006 Acts

•Schools Causing Concern - Intervention

CHANGES FOR L0CAL AUTHORITIES

“We believe that governing bodies should be the key strategic body in schools, responsible for the overall direction that a school takes. In that respect, governors are also therefore the key body for school improvement.’

Lord Hill, 2011

Don’t leave it to the head or the DfE!

WHOSE DECISION?

STRATEGIC OPTIONS

1. Do nothing

2. Collaboration

3. Federation

4. Independent academy

5. Academy Chain

1. DO NOTHING1. DO NOTHING

Pros Cons

LA provide contingency / fall- back service if required

LA has less money centrally as schools opt out

LA focus is on less well performing schools

Cost doesn’t equate to VFM in terms of level of LA support delivered

Inability to ‘shape’ the landscape Underperformance will mean being

forced to become an Academy

2. COLLABORATION2. COLLABORATION

Pros Cons Defined areas for collaboration Collaborating schools can obtain

some economies of scale Not legally binding; each school will

retain its own separate registration and category (e.g. community)

No control over budget Lengthy negotiations to reach

agreement Additional meeting time

commitment No formal agreements/contracts &

variable levels of commitment

Informal partnerships with other local schools to share selected curriculum provision and resources

3. HARD FEDERATION3. HARD FEDERATION

Pros Cons

Legally binding - liabilities/assets are transferred but an exit process is in place

Potential to develop leadership opportunities that would not otherwise exist

Each school will retain its own separate registration and category (e.g. community)

Process & cohesion takes longer to evolve (typically 2 – 5 years)

Trend is for existing federations to convert to academy status

No opportunity to reduce duplication in support processes and systems

A formal and legal agreement by which two or more maintained schools remain separate legal entities but share a governing body

4. INDEPENDENT ACADEMY4. INDEPENDENT ACADEMY

Pros Cons Autonomy in driving school

improvement agenda Ability to expand mix of partnership

arrangements to achieve economies of scale on own terms

Sharing best practice, staff & leadership development opportunities through supporting a less well performing school

Full receipt of income i.e. no LA top slice

Increased VFM via procurement of bespoke services

input of external expertise provides additional controls & oversight

Increased governing body accountabilities

Increased statutory requirements & costs e.g. accounting

Need to fulfil all employer liabilities

Funding agreement commitment = 7 years

Some uncharted territory Isolation? DfE as boss?

Conversion to academy status as a single school

5. ACADEMY CHAIN5. ACADEMY CHAIN

Pros Cons

Broader range of opportunities and benefits for students and staff

Fit for future governance arrangements utilising best mix of skills, knowledge & experience

Cohesive strategic leadership through shared structures

Increased flexibility & operational efficiencies - less duplication of effort

Increased VFM & buying power greater economies of scale

Some loss of autonomy through shared accountabilities

Short term increase in costs before evidencing longer term benefits

Becoming a mini-LA without large economies of scale

Isolation from rest of system?

Multiple schools converting to academy status under one Trust

Pros & cons as per previous slide AND :

May 2010 Labour gov’t had established 203 sponsored academies

July 2010 Academies Act becomes lawSept 2010 First 32 “converting” academies

establishedMarch 2011 195 “outstanding” schools had

converted to academies

UPDATE

THIS MONTH

1244 schools have applied to be an academy since June 2010831 of these applications have been approved430 have converted and are now open, inc 99 primary and no

special schoolsThe total number of open Academies, including those opened

under the previous government, now stands at 704

In perspective:there are 3127 secondary schools and 16971 primary schools in

England 3.5% of all schools are academies0.6% of all primary schools are academies

Michael Gove announced plans for 200 more sponsored secondary academies in poorer areas

He now expects one-third of secondary schools to be academies by the end of the year

“As an urgent priority, we will start work on turning around the 200 primary schools that have most consistently underperformed by finding new academy sponsors for them so that most can reopen from September 2012”

Speech to National College 16 June 2011

LAST WEEK

“outstanding” and ‘good with outstanding features’ schoolsother schools need to apply in partnership with an existing

academy or join an existing academy trust with a proven record of school improvement in order to apply for academy status

from 1 January 2011, special schools became eligible to apply for academy status

Underperforming primary schools will be forced to become Academies

Free schools are Academies

WHO CAN BECOME AN ACADEMY?

Sponsored free from local authority control led by sponsors from a wide

range of backgrounds (eg, business and voluntary sector)

free (within certain limits) to adapt the national curriculum to suit the needs of their pupils

set their own pay and conditions for staff

change the duration of terms and school days

generously funded, often including new buildings (pre-Coalition gov’t)

Converting not necessarily serve areas of high

deprivation not required to have an external

sponsor (the academy trust delegates management of the school to the GB)

not required to establish an endowment fund

not be subject to routine school inspection by Ofsted (if they are rated as ‘outstanding’)

convert in a shorter timescale (typically less than one year)

receive project start-up funding of around £25,000 from the DfE

expected to support another school or schools

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Sponsored Initial grantCapital grantRunning costsRevenue funding to plan and

support changeActual sums vary from

academy to academy but are much more generous than for converting academies

ConvertingFlat grant £25000General annual grant (GAG)

funding based on the level of LA funding already calculated for the school prior to it becoming an academy

Grant payments to academies to replace LA services depend on the level of central spend in the LA

As LAs cut expenditure on central services, the amount schools receive may reduce

ACADEMY FUNDING

A challenge for all academies in the future, is to ensure that their GB is sufficiently rigorous in how it spends public money

The Public Accounts Committee noted that in the past, many academies did not have adequate financial controls, and that the GBs of all academies should comply with basic standards of governance and financial management. This should include segregation of key roles and responsibilities, and timely submission of annual accounts

NC 2011

GBS AND FINANCE

“Evidence shows that the academy programme has had a good effect on school standards” Michael Gove 16 June 2011

National Audit Office report (NAO, 2010): most (sponsored) academies are achieving increases in academic attainment for their pupils compared with their predecessor schools

Although still below the national average, the proportion of their pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent is improving at a faster rate than maintained schools with similar intakes

a small number of (sponsored) academies have made little progress, particularly when English and mathematics are taken into account

DOES ACADEMY STATUS AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO

IMPROVEMENT?

PwC (2008) systematically reviewed and evaluated the distinctive features of academies, put them in their wider context and set them beside local and national comparators

Conclusion? There is no simple uniform academy effect, since there is a complex range of variables interacting within each academy

“There has been little specific research undertaken in relation to converting academies” NC 2011

DOES ACADEMY STATUS AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO

IMPROVEMENT?

Sponsored managed by academy trusts,

companies limited by guarantee with charitable status. A trust may include one or more academies

a GB governs the academy on behalf of the trust. On average academies have 13 governors, similar to maintained schools

sponsor appoints the majority of governors

the GB should include an LA representative, the principal in an ex-officio capacity, and a parent

Converting not required to have a sponsor

but GB has to comply with legislation and take on trust status

no research on how this will affect converting schools

little change in the composition, structure and roles of the governing body

GBs need to ensure necessary challenge is generated either internally or by buying in external support, in order that educational standards continue to remain high

GOVERNANCE

“The establishment of academies and trusts has moved the governance of schools away from a stakeholder model…a corporate sector model is becoming more prominent and whilst there are still places as of right for parents, the governing body has taken on a more non-executive role, with individuals recruited for their expertise and experience”

NC 2011

GOVERNANCE

Since converting to academy status and experiencing reduced involvement of the LA, governors are expected to take on more responsibility (eg, for buildings and other assets)

One governor explained this as “the buck now stops with us”Need for additional training, in particular relating to the new

responsibilities and accountabilities that academy status brings

“The governing body is now running a small organisation. The school took advice on risks which are perceived to be different, but not more serious.” (Academy senior leader)

GOVERNANCE

SponsoredChallenging staff to raise

standardsRefining ethos, vision,

valuesRevising policies for

consistencyRealigning leadership

structuresEngaging with parents

and communityTUPE of staff

Converting

Managing stakeholders, especially if they disagree

Volume of admin and paperwork

Burden on leaders, especially bursar – against the clock

CONVERSION CHALLENGES

Previous experience of a change of status (eg GM or Foundation)

Inclusive pre-consultation and consultation: invest time and thought in it; prepare groundwork; consult; FAQs for staff, parents, young people – time consuming but “it’s all in the preparation”

Technical and legal expertise – but don’t rush to buy in; needn’t be hugely expensive; DfE help (variable!)

WHAT CAN HELP?

Durand academy in Lambeth: supported through conversion by "a communications agency and property and TUPE [specialist employment] lawyers"

Lampton academy in Hounslow: schools are given £25,000 to effect the conversion: fortunate to have a governor whose hard work cut down their legal fees: a colleague in Brent without any expertise received a bill from the same firm of solicitors that Lampton used for less than £10,000

Too much of a meal can be made of the difficulty of the paperwork involved, insists Jim McAtear, head of Hartismere school in Suffolk. He scrutinised the legal requirements carefully beforehand and decided a DIY approach was perfectly viable. "The way the DfE has set up the process actually strengthens the infrastructure of those schools," he says. "The difficulties entailed are largely illusory.“

Guardian 30 May 2011

EXPENSIVE LEGAL SUPPORT?

Independence and autonomy are key motivating factors in themselves for both sponsored and converting academies, but for different reasons:

financial autonomy and increased funding enabled converting academies to achieve better value for money and better student outcomes

primary motivation for independence in sponsored academies was to use their independence to help raise standards rapidly

NC 2011

WHY HAVE SCHOOLS CONVERTED?

The money the schools have pulled back – between 8% and 14% of their total budget – and what it would allow them to do is the central reason all these heads cite for choosing academy status

The Premier Academy in Milton Keynes has £330,000 more:"We probably don't get things cheaper, but we can move

faster…The enhanced funding allows us to purchase services that give best value for money, including those provided by the LA, but we will not be constrained by having one provider who has a monopoly on a service irrespective of quality or cost. It's this type of freedom that has made the conversion to academy status incredibly worthwhile“

How to become an academy: Guardian Monday 30 May 2011

WHY HAVE SCHOOLS CONVERTED?

The “new freedoms” are not new at all and pose problems:Freedom from LA control – LMS was established in 1988Set your own pay and conditions – but virtually no

Academies have done it – risks disruption and inflationFreedom from National Curriculum – NC is under review

to reduce prescriptionChange length of school day and terms – you can

already change day lengths. Changing term dates likely to cause local difficulties, esp for parents of children at different schools

REASONS FOR NOT CHANGING

Learn from the past

GM status – some leapt at it, got most of the money; others pressurised to follow (domino effect), got less; most chose not to; new government reversed policy

Moral issue

If many become Academies, what happens to all the other schools?

Less moneyReduced servicesTwo-tier system

OTHER REASONS

Very little research on converting academiesNo solid evidence that they raise educational

standardsNobody knows everythingPolitically-driven?Head-driven?Locked in for 7 yearsInsecure future funding and costs of servicesLack of open accountabilityAccidents waiting to happen: indemnity insurance

UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS

Where are you now in consideration of Academy status?

What appeals to you about Academy status?What puts you off?What questions remain unanswered?If you’ve become an Academy, what lessons did

you learn?

SOME QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION