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ABSTRACT
The secondary school system in England has undergone a radical transformation since 2010 with the rapid expansion of independent academies run by private companies (‘academy trusts’) and funded directly by central government. This paper examines the development of academies and their predecessors, city technology colleges, and explores the extent and nature of continuity and change. It is argued that processes of layering and policy revision, together with austerity measures arising from economic recession, have resulted in a system-wide change with private, non-profit-making companies, funded by central government, rapidly replacing local authorities as the main providers of secondary school education.
Keywords:
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Conor Ryan and two other policy actors we interviewed. We are also grateful to Alan Parker and David Wolfe for their advice, Jonathan Roberts for his help with the interviews, and Philip Noden for helpful comments. Thanks are also due to the journal editor and anonymous reviewer.
Notes
1 For the purposes of international comparison, public schools are directly/indirectly administered by a public education authority; private schools are directly/indirectly administered by a non-governmental organisation (e.g. church, private business) (Eurostat, 2011, personal communication with first author). A government-dependent private institution is one that receives more than one-half of its core funding from government agencies or teaching staff are paid by the government (directly/indirectly) (Eurostat, Citation2005).
2 The 1944 Education Act gave local education authorities responsibility for establishing and maintaining primary and secondary schools.
3 The Secretary of State is the most senior government minister.
4 The governing body is employer and admission authority for voluntary-aided schools and contributes towards capital costs (HC Education and Skills Committee, Citation2003).
5 This has been a feature of earlier Conservative policies; in particular, the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative, which provided technical education in schools and paved the way for the creation of CTCs (Baker, Citation1993).
6 Technical schools in England have a long history (see McCulloch, Citation1989). They were not prescribed by the 1944 Education Act, but a circular on the organisation of secondary education issued in 1945 recommended that there should be 25–30% grammar school or technical places and 70–75% non-selective secondary modern places in each local education authority. Very few technical schools were developed, and in 1961 only 3.2% of 13 year olds were in technical schools (Simon, Citation1991). With the move towards comprehensive schools from 1965, technical schools virtually disappeared (see McCulloch, Citation1989). It was this paucity of technical schools that led to pressure from employers and other actors to introduce technical schools (for example, Naylor, Citation1986; Taylor, Citation1986).
7 Independent fee-charging schools in receipt of a direct grant from government were not new (see Simon, Citation1991).
8 See also Whitty et al (Citation1993).
9 The Department of Education and Science became the Department for Education in 1992, the Department for Education and Employment in 1995, the Department for Education and Skills in 2001, the Department for Children, Schools and Families in June 2007, and the Department for Education in May 2010.
10 As were voluntary-aided schools.
11 HC Deb., 19 July 1988, vol. 137, cols 938–939.
12 HC Deb., 13 November 1986, vol. 105, cols 114–209.
13 HC Deb., 3 November 1987, vol. 121, cols 766–768.
14 HC Education, Science and Arts Committee, Scrutiny Session, 28 November 1989.
15 HC Education and Skills Committee Ans to Q 107, 23 May 2007. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmeduski/561/7052308.htm
16 Business sponsors were to be represented on governing bodies and play a direct role in management.
17 See also Exley (Citation2012).
18 Specialist schools have also been seen as a means to improve schools in Singapore (Dimmock, Citation2011).
19 HC Deb., 27 June 2000, vol. 352, cols 734–756.
20 HC Deb., 15 March 2000, vol. 346, cols 299–306.
21 HL Deb., 18 July 2000, vol. 615, cols 830–835.
22 HC Deb., 12 February 2001, vol. 363, cols 22–34.
23 HC Children, Schools and Families Committee Ans to Q 76, 10 March 2010. Available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmchilsch/422/10031003.htm (accessed 20 April 2013).
24 HC Children, Schools and Families Committee Ans to Q 81, 10 March 2010. Available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmchilsch/422/10031004.htm (accessed 20 April 2013).
25 The broad accountability mechanisms remained the same (see also West et al., Citation2011).
26 Before July 2010, academies registered with, and were regulated by, the Charity Commission; from August 2011 they became exempt charities, with the DfE as principal regulator, responsible for overseeing compliance with charity and education law. From March 2012 the Education Funding Agency has carried out this role on behalf of the DfE (Charity Commission, 2012).
27 The level of the pupil premium for 2012/13 was £600 per pupil eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years (DfE, Citation2012b).
28 Funding was mainstreamed and routed to schools via the Dedicated Schools Grant, distributed to local authorities (DfE, Citation2010d).
29 The land and buildings are leased or transferred from their current landowners (e.g. local authority, diocese) (DfE, Citation2012d).
30 HC Children, Schools and Families Committee Ans to Q 35, 8 March 2010. Available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmchilsch/422/10030803.htm (accessed 20 April 2013).
31 Authors’ calculation (from HC Library, 2012).
32 Central local authority funds were also allocated to grant-maintained schools.
33 Local authorities are to have a ‘strong strategic role as champions for parents, families and vulnerable pupils’ (DfE, 2010a, p. 12).