What is an academy and what are the benefits?
The government desires that every school in the nation be a part of a large multi-academy trust. But what exactly are academies, and what advantages does this strategy offer?
Individual schools have more freedom under the academy scheme than under local authority management. Being an academy offers schools the authority to choose the finest curriculum for their students, select how much money to spend on various things, and more.
What is an academy?
Academies are public schools that receive state funding, but they are not governed by councils because they are separate from local government. They are free to choose their own curricula, term dates, school hours, and many other things.
Despite the fact that they are still supported by the government, they have the freedom to choose how much they spend on everything from teacher salaries to classroom supplies.
There are three types of academies, which educate more than half of students:
- Converters – former council-run schools that decided to change their status to academy;
- Sponsored – Council-run schools that have struggled in the past and are now in need of assistance or have been deemed "Inadequate" by Ofsted must convert to academies under the legislation; or
- Free schools – brand-new schools were built to fill a local demand for high-quality educational facilities
Primary, secondary, middle, all-through, 16-19, alternative provision and special schools can all be academies.
What are multi academy trusts?
Multi Academy Trusts are nonprofit organisations in charge of managing several academies. They must invest any surplus back into the trust because they are charities and cannot be operated for financial gain.
The schools under a trust can collaborate with one another to share staff, curriculum knowledge, and effective teaching techniques in order to provide the best results for students.
Although other forms of school partnerships can be successful, the main distinction between academy trusts and those other sorts of school partnerships is that the trust as a whole is held accountable for all schools' performance, while all schools within it assist one another.
Why is the government encouraging schools to join strong trusts now?
A multi academy trust is still a good option for schools to join. They allow schools to concentrate on what matters most—teaching, learning, and a curriculum that is based on what works—while empowering the strongest leaders to assume responsibility for assisting additional schools.
Each year, hundreds of schools make the decision to convert and take advantage of the freedom that academy status may offer, at the timetable that works best for them.
Multi-academy trusts have the ability to offer the best training and evidence-based curriculum support for already excellent teachers, enabling them to focus on what they do best, teaching, as we all recover from the pandemic.
How are they held responsible if they have so much freedom?
Academies are nevertheless subject to regulation despite this flexibility. All academy trusts are thoroughly monitored in terms of education and finances by the National and Regional Schools Commissioners and their colleagues, who work for the department, as well as the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
As with council-run schools, individual academies are still subject to Ofsted inspections and evaluations.
In actuality, owing of enhanced financial control, academies are held to higher standards of accountability than council-run schools.
What happens if an academy doesn't succeed? Can they be returned to local government?
The current method enables the department to act quickly when a school doesn't meet the essential criteria, which may include moving the academy to a more suitable trust as necessary. However, putting a school back under a local authority's jurisdiction is not considered to be the best method to make changes.