In a recent article for the Sun, Michael Gove wrote that while academies enjoy all the freedoms of private schools, “they’re also socially comprehensive, open to children of every ability with no selection or screening of students.” But today’s report by the Academies Commission suggests that the schools are in fact “finding methods to select covertly”.
In its new study, Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system, the independent panel, led by Ofsted’s former chief inspector Christine Gilbert, warns that academies are gaming the system by holding social events with prospective parents and pre-admission meetings. “Such practices can enable schools to select pupils from more privileged families where parents have the requisite cultural capital to complete the [form] in ways that will increase their child’s chances,” the report says. The admissions code states that schools “cannot interview children or parents” and that when coping with oversubscription, must not “give priority to children on the basis of any practical or financial support parents may give to the school or any associated organisation”.
The commission goes on to warn that the dramatic rise in the number of academies (from 203 in May 2010 to 2,456 in November 2012), which now account for more than half of all England’s secondaries, risks further admissions injustices. “The current emphases on choice and diversity may go some way to improving the school system in England, but they are likely to hit a ceiling because of the lack of engagement with (or even negative impact on) disadvantaged families.” It speaks of academies “willing to take a ‘low road’ approach to school improvement by manipulating admissions rather than by exercising strong leadership”.
The section on admissions concludes by calling for each academy to “publish comprehensive data, including socio-economic data, about who applies to it and who is admitted.” It adds that this data should be made widely available and analysed by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) to identify any risks in terms of socio-economic segregation.
Education is also in the news this morning due to the Independent’s frontpage, which speaks of a “Tory plan for firms to run schools for profit”. It transpires that the headline refers to a proposal in a new book (Tory Modernisation 2.0: the Future of the Conservative Party) by the think-tank Bright Blue, rather than any formal shift in Conservative policy. However, as I’ve noted before, Gove has made it clear that for-profit state schools could be established under a future Tory government. During his appearance before the Leveson inquiry last May, the Education Secretary remarked that unlike some of his coalition colleagues, “who are very sceptical of the benefits of profit”, he had an “open mind”, adding: “I believe that it may be the case that we can augment the quality of state education by extending the range of people involved in its provision.”
For an explanation of why for-profit schools would not raise standards, I’d recommend reading this Staggers post from IPPR’s Rick Muir on the subject.
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