Schools White Paper — Academies — 13 Apr 2016 at 18:52

The majority of MPs voted in favour of turning all primary and secondary schools in England to become academies, shifting control over them from local councils to central government.

MPs were considering a motion stating:

• That this House
• believes that every child deserves an excellent education;
• notes that the Government is proposing to force all primary and secondary schools in England to become academies as part of multi-academy trusts or chains by 2022 at the latest;
• further notes that the vast majority of schools affected by this policy will be primary schools, over 80 per cent of which are already rated good and outstanding;
• notes that there are outstanding academies and excellent community schools but also poor examples of both types of such school;
• further notes the Fourth Report from the Education Committee, Academies and free schools, Session 2014-15, HC 258, which highlights that there is no evidence that academisation in and of itself leads to school improvement;
• notes that the Schools White Paper proposes the removal of parent governors from school governing bodies which will reduce the genuine involvement of parents and communities in local schools; and
• calls on the Government to put these proposals on hold as there is insufficient evidence that they will raise standards.

This vote was on an amendment stating:

• to leave out from “education;” to the end of the Question and add:
• “
• welcomes the transformation in England’s schools since 2010 where 1.4 million more children are now taught in good or outstanding schools;
• notes that the academies programme has been at the heart of that transformation because it trusts school leaders to run schools and empowers them with the freedom to innovate and drive up standards;
• further notes that there remain too many areas of underperformance and that more needs to be done to ensure that standards in England match those of its best international competitors; and therefore
• welcomes the Government’s proposals in its White Paper to further improve teacher quality, ensure funding is fairly distributed, tackle areas of chronic educational failure and devolve more power to heads and school leaders to ensure both they and parents have more of a voice in the running of their schools; and
• welcomes the commitment to achieve educational excellence everywhere.”

Debate in Parliament |