The Development of the Academies Programme: ‘Privatising’ School-Based Education in England 1986–2013

West, Anne; Bailey, Elizabeth

doi:10.1080/00071005.2013.789480

Cited by 93 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Almost 60 percent of state funded secondary schools are academies (DfE, ). Similar to the Swedish welfare changes (Blomqvist, ) ‘the speed and extent of what is in essence a form of privatisation—the transfer of responsibility from the public sector to actors outside it—has been remarkable’ (West and Bailey, , p. 138).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Historically, governance of schools was a partnership between government, locally elected education authorities (LEAs), teachers in schools, and the churches, which owned many of the schools. Establishing academy schools was part of a raft of changes, resulting in ‘a system‐wide shift in this provision, facilitated by the Academies Act 2010’ (West and Bailey, , p. 139). England is not alone in these moves, indeed the act is an example of ‘policy borrowing’—academy schools are based on US and Swedish charter schools (Winstanley, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Freedoms and Perils: Academy Schools in England

Heilbronn¹

2016

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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Can Dewey's Moral Principles in Education throw light on a contemporary policy issue in education, namely the privatisation of education through the establishment of academy schools in England? The article first considers what the policy entails, in terms of its conception of education as a market commodity. The next section suggests an alternative conception, drawing particularly on Deweyan claims for the fundamentally normative and relational nature of teaching, through his definition of democracy as ‘a form of associated living’ and the school as a place for such association. The third section relates the two conceptions of education and in their light considers tensions and conflicts in the academisation policy concerning inclusion, equity and social cohesion. The article concludes that the establishment of academy schools compromises these values and constitutes a danger to the commons, that is, to socially consensual and equitable ways of being together.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freedoms and Perils: Academy Schools in England

Heilbronn¹

2016

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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“…City Technology Colleges: all ability independent from local authority schools, which do not charge fees, and are not maintained by the local education authority. Their curriculum has a particular focus on science and technology education (see West and Bailey, 2013). They were established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, many commentators have identified CTCs as the precursors of academies (see West and Bailey, 2013). 14 This leaves us with the following numbers per year, as shown in the To illustrate the empirical approach we adopt, note that in the first year of conversions (2002/3), three schools became academies.…”

Section: Empirical Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

School reforms and pupil performance

2016

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The relationship between school reforms, specifically those involving the introduction of new school types, and pupil performance is studied. The particular context is the introduction of academy schools in England, but related evidence on Swedish free schools and US charter schools is also presented. The empirical evidence shows a causal positive impact of the conversion of disadvantaged schools to academies on end of school pupil performance and on subsequent probability of degree completion at university. There is heterogeneity in this impact, such that more disadvantaged pupils and those attending London academies experience bigger performance improvements. JEL Keywords: Academies; School reform; School autonomy; Pupil Performance. JEL Classifications: I20; I21; I28. AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Rafael Lalive, Mikael Lindahl and participants in the 2015 EALE/SOLE world conference for a number of helpful comments. In parts, this paper draws on and further develops some of our other work on academy schools (Eyles,

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“…During the 1990s, a small number of so-called City Technology Colleges (CTCs) also existed. In some ways these were the pre-cursors of academy schools (see, for example, the discussion inWest and Bailey, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Schools and Strategic Pupil Exclusion

Machin

Sandi

2019

The Economic Journal

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This paper studies whether pupil performance gains achieved by autonomous schools -specifically academy schools in England -can be attributed to the strategic exclusion of poorly performing pupils. In England there have been two phases of academy school introduction, the first in the 2000s being a school improvement programme for schools serving disadvantaged pupil populations, the second a mass academisation programme in the 2010s which by contrast enabled better performing schools to become academies. Overall, on average across both programmes, exclusion rates are higher in academy schools. When the two programmes are considered separately, the earlier programme featured a much higher increase in the incidence of permanent exclusion. However, a number of simulated counterfactual experiments based on the statistical estimates show that rather than being used as a strategic means of manipulation to boost measured school performance, the higher rate of exclusion is instead a feature of the rigorously enforced discipline procedures that the pre-2010 academies adopted.

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The Development of the Academies Programme: ‘Privatising’ School-Based Education in England 1986–2013

Cited by 93 publications

References 16 publications

Freedoms and Perils: Academy Schools in England

Freedoms and Perils: Academy Schools in England

School reforms and pupil performance

Autonomous Schools and Strategic Pupil Exclusion

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