The Green Party has called for the government to include a clause in the Education and Adoption Bill which would allow academy schools to revert to Local Authority management.
This follows a report from the Sutton Trust, exposing that 44% of academy schools assessed would fall under the government’s new definition of “coasting”.
Alongside teaching unions and education experts, the Green Party has opposed the anti-democratic academies and free schools programmes, highlighting that it is nothing more than privatisation by stealth.
Green Party education policy pledges to bring all schools under Local Authority control in order to protect local democratic accountability, and to create a collaborative system which supports teachers and pupils to achieve the best possible educational outcomes.
Schools spokesperson, Samantha Pancheri said:
“The government’s obsession with measuring school performance by exam results and Ofsted inspections has taken a sinister turn lately with the development of the Education and Adoption Bill. This is legislation which paves the way for all schools to be forced into academy conversion, despite mounting evidence that this does not improve educational outcomes for pupils, and that a significant number experience poorer quality education.
“Schools should be run for pupils, with a healthy learning environment which is responsive to the needs of each child. Teachers should be supported in delivering this, not pushed out of the profession with excessive workloads and Orwellian regulation.
“The small number of academy sponsors with above national average results are all based in London, with schools having previously taken part in the London Challenge, which focused on collaboration between schools. This was sadly abandoned in favour of the absurd notion that competition is a more effective way to improve standards – a popular Conservative ideology which has demonstrably failed in many areas as well as education.
“The government can no longer claim any legitimate evidence that academisation is the solution for struggling schools, and to push ahead with new legislation that alienates parents, staff and pupils from any consultation over academy conversion sets a worrying precedent for undermining democracy and accountability. It is imperative that we fight for a mechanism by which schools can choose to shed academy status.”