38% of Converted schools have gone downhill.
Comparing the 136 Ofsted reports for converted academies published in June with the last full Ofsted report for the predecessor school produces the following results:
- 38% are deemed by Ofsted to be worse than they were before conversion. Only 13% show a higher grading post conversion. 48% have the same grading.
- 7% were put into the bottom grade by Ofsted inspectors post conversion although no schools were in special measure before conversion.
- Nearly 6% of the conversions showed a drop of 2 or more grades compared to pre-conversion.
The analysis of the June reports of converter academies further demonstrates the contradictions in Gove’s headlong rush to privatise education. According to the Department for Education website “Schools that are performing well that want to convert to become an academy will need to follow the process outlined in the guidance document, which is available for download below.” This means, presumably, that only those which are good or outstanding, according to Ofsted, should be able to convert.
However, according to the Ofsted reports for June, ¼ of those schools which had converted were deemed to be merely satisfactory prior to conversion. Wilshaw and Gove have both claimed that satisfactory is no longer good enough but now “requires improvement”. This emphasizes yet another contradiction within Gove’s policies.
Academy status was forced upon Downhills School, against the wishes of parents, staff and governors on the basis that Ofsted had deemed the school to be inadequate. If this is the case and Gove claims that academy status is a way of improving standards, how does he explain the results below?
Ofsted Grading |
% Converter Academies |
% Predecessor Schools |
1 |
17% |
37% |
2 |
52% |
38% |
3 |
24% |
25% |
4 |
7% |
0% |
Download Exel file June Ofsted gradings
As word doc Academy Conversion damages educational standards
I share the Alliance’s opposition to Gove’s academisation of schools and was impressed by this report. But then I remembered that Ofsted has moved the goalposts of its rankings. Can someone rework this data taking into account that many non-academies have a lower rating than their previous Ofsted inspection gave.