Exilian

Today at school, we recieved a letter saying that the school was seriously looking into becoming an Academy. this is one of Cameron's ideas which he thinks will benefit our education. Here are some of the advantages to our school that were raised in the letter:

1. A significant increase in direct funding to the school which would have previoulsy been retained by the Local Authority to provide a range of services.
2. Greater control over the school budget to achieve the best for our young people.
3. Freedom for Local Authority administration to reduce the burden of bureaucracy allowing us to focus on teaching and learning.
4. Greater flexibility over the curriculum to improve the opportunities for our students.
5. An ability to bid directly to the Department for Education for future capital funding.
6. The ability to retain our outstanding staff through improved professional opportunities.
7. The ability to continue to support our partner schools.

Me and Jubal had a discussion about this and disagreed with it unanimously.

However, before I post what I think about these points, I would like to hear what the Exilan Community think of the idea, so DISCUSS!

Hmmmmmm, perhaps putting the word "Discuss" in capital letters was to forceful....
For those who want to know about the whole academy idea, heres the link:

Information on Academies (http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/whatisanacademy)

Surf around that for a bit to get some info :)

Agreed. It's basically a pathetic attempt to reduce teachers' working conditions and won't benefit pupils at all.

How does it reduce their working conditions? Surely more money to a school would be an improvement? Unless the money comes out of their wages or something...

Academies are not state controlled -> Teachers are no longer state employees -> No more national payscales, union strikes no longer really work, no public sector pension schemes, etc.

And the new money isn't "new" - it comes out of local authority budgets. All the change does is give academies more money at the expense of comprehensives locally (robbing Peter to pay Paul) as a bribe, and takes control of that money out of the hands of experienced educational professionals and into the hands of an arbitary collection of governors, local dignitaries, businessmen, or whoever else gets onto the "academy trust".

Also, on the point of more money, if they get the extra funding from the local authority, it is likely that things like bus fares will go up just to get to school. I pay roughly