David Cameron’s policy to force all state schools to become academies binned as Government abandons ‘flawed’ education bill in latest U-turn
Education Secretary Justine Greening revealed she’d ditched the education bill as Labour welcomed the canning of plans
DAVID Cameron’s flagship plan to force all state schools into academies got its “final nail in the coffin” yesterday as ministers threw the plans out.
Education Secretary Justine Greening revealed she’d ditched the education bill as Labour welcomed the canning of the “flawed plans”.
The move paves the way for the Government to continue their consultation on grammar schools.
It means the Education For All Bill, which was announced in the Queen’s Speech, will not now be introduced to Parliament.
Lucy Powell MP, former Labour Shadow Education Secretary, said: “Forcing good and outstanding schools to become academies was always a flawed plan.
“It is about time that ministers put the final nail in the coffin of these proposals.”
Last night councils claimed victory in their battle to halt the Government plans.
Councillor Richard Watts of the Local Government Association (LGA) said: “Both the forced academisation of schools in areas considered to be ‘unviable’, and the removal of the council role in school improvement, went against evidence that council-maintained schools perform more highly than academies and free schools in Ofsted inspections, and that conversion to academies did not in itself lead to better results.”
Ms Greening said yesterday: “Our ambition remains that all schools should benefit from the freedom and autonomy that academy status brings.
“Our focus, however, is on building capacity in the system and encouraging schools to convert voluntarily.
“No changes to legislation are required for these purposes and therefore we do not require wider education legislation in this session to make progress on our ambitious education agenda.”
Academies are independently run - but state-funded - schools, overseen by a not-for-profit business, known as an academy trust.
The original plans would have required all schools to convert to academy status, or have plans to do so, by 2022.
Teachers unions also welcomed the decision.
National Association of Head Teachers General Secretary Russell Hobby said: “It was, and remains, inappropriate to force good schools to convert when the evidence of any benefit is so dubious.”
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers called it “a victory for common sense”.