Schools to become academies without consultation

Schools will not be required to consult with parents or staff before converting to academies, EducationInvestor understands.

Plans for schools to become academies as soon as this September have led some to warn that there would not be time for adequate consultation. And the Anti-Academies Alliance, a pressure group backed by the leading teaching unions, has threatened to block such moves by demanding judicial review of any decision that is made without discussions with parents and staff.

But both political and civil service sources told EducationInvestor that there was no statutory requirement for governing bodies to hold any such consultation. "They can demand as many judicial reviews as they like, but it's not going to work," said one.

Sources stressed, however, that schools should nonetheless discuss their plans with both teachers and parents.EducationInvestor also understands that the government has backed away from plans for hundreds of schools to become academies this autumn.

Although a few may switch that soon, the complexity of the change process means that the government has accepted that many schools are unlikely to make the jump before September 2011.

On 25 June the government published a list of around 1,600 schools that had expressed an interest in becoming academies. Those that are ranked ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – around 900 of them – will be "fast-tracked".

Academy status gives schools more freedom over their curriculum, building, opening times and staff play, and means they are directly answerable to the education secretary rather than the local authority. It will also give them control of a greater proportion of their budget.

But bodies including the Catholic Education Service, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Grammar Schools Association have warned schools against rushing into academy status before more information is available.

Oona Standard, chief executive of the Catholic Education Service, warned heads that they would be "very unwise" to apply for academy status, which would mean "an uncertain future and a higher level of risk."

And the NGA pointed out that if governors decide to change their mind at a later date they would not be able to opt back into local authority control.


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