The Labour Group has expressed opposition to the government’s announcement that all schools in Swindon have to become an academy by 2022.
The Labour Group believe that converting Council Maintained schools to an academy, regardless of whether they are good our outstanding, would distract schools from focussing on driving pupil progress, instead turning their attention to passing through bureaucratic hoops to obtaining academy status.
The Labour Group has expressed opposition to the government’s announcement that all schools in Swindon have to become an academy by 2022.
The Labour Group believe that converting Council Maintained schools to an academy, regardless of whether they are good our outstanding, would distract schools from focussing on driving pupil progress, instead turning their attention to passing through bureaucratic hoops to obtaining academy status.
The Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Education, Councillor Carol Shelley, said:
“The government’s academy strategy has been unproven in driving improvement in schools and often academies are no better than being in Council control. Recent reports and the academies actually already in Swindon show us this.
Also, this is a very short time scale to get all schools to convert which would cause school leaders attention and school finances to be diverted to obtaining academy status rather than the education of pupils. I suspect Head Teachers in good or outstanding Council Maintained will be aghast at the time they will have to spend on implementing the government’s decision rather than focussing on pupil progress.
And at a time when the government is slashing council budgets, it seems unfair that Swindon Council will now have a significant bureaucratic burden on its time and finances, by having to help these schools convert to academy status.”