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Tag Archives: Academies commission
Is David Ross the right person to run Ofsted? Some facts
David Ross has been named as a favourite for the role of Chair of Ofsted. His education trust runs 25 academies. 6 are in Special Measures, 7 require improvement. He has donated £200,000 to the Tory Party. Continue reading
Posted in Academy watch, News, Resources
Tagged Academies commission, Ofsted, Sponsors
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Police investigate lost £162,000 at academy school
Police are investigating allegations of serious financial mismanagement at one of the Government’s academy schools, fuelling demands for stricter controls over their financing, The Independent has learnt. Continue reading
Posted in Media, News, Top story
Tagged Academies commission, finances
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The murky world of academy finance
Do academies really receive the same amount of funding as non-academy schools?
It is a basic question, and very relevant to any assessment as to whether the coalition government’s best-known education policy is actually succeeding or not.
But, amazingly, we still do not have a categorical answer. It seems very difficult, then, to make any fair comparison between academies and their maintained (non-academy) school peer group. Moreover, as the Commons Public Accounts Committee stressed again in a bitingly critical report (http://bit.ly/17LKJ74) on the Department for Education’s management of the academies programme this week, large sums of public money seem to be being spent on the policy with relatively little transparency. Continue reading
Posted in News
Tagged Academies commission, Funding, Sponsors
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Academy schools: a flawed system that cannot be sustained
From The Guardian
In English education, we are living in extraordinary times. A striking example is the huge growth of academy schools, particularly in the secondary sector, a growth that has happened without key questions about effectiveness, sustainability or value for money being addressed. It is a vast structural experiment, in scale going far beyond what has been tried in any comparable country. However, Unleashing Greatness, a new 130-page report by the high-powered Academies Commission has investigated the issues in some depth. Its report makes extremely uncomfortable reading. Continue reading
Posted in News, Top story, Uncategorized
Tagged Academies commission, Gove
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Academy management is out of control and not improving schools
By Terry Wrigley
The Academies Commission was set up by the Pearson Group and the RSA. It was widely expected to be a whitewash. It was explicitly set up not to question the academies programme but to help them work better.
Surprisingly its report has revealed very serious problems of achievement, school admissions, school improvement, how sponsors are chosen, financial irregularities, and poor management. It condemns the casual attitude of the Coalition Government towards academies, which are clearly a law unto themselves. Continue reading
Posted in Research, Top story
Tagged Academies commission, Gove
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