Government drops plans to force all schools in England to become academies

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The Government has dropped plans to force all schools in England to become academies in the face of opposition from teaching unions, Tory MPs and councils.



The U-turn by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan comes after a backlash to the proposal to take schools out of local authority control by 2022.

Ministers still hope that a large number of schools will choose to convert to academies, but the plan is now an "aspiration" rather than a compulsory policy, the Department for Education said.

The Government announced plans in its Budget to force around 17,000 mainstream schools in England to be taken out of the control of local education authorities.

Chancellor George Osborne said that all schools will either have to convert by 2020 or be committed to doing so by 2022.

Two-thirds of secondary schools have already converted but 15,000 schools do not currently have academy status.

But the plans have come under intense criticism, including from Tory council chiefs, and ministers faced a potential revolt from backbench MPs.

With the Government's slender majority in the Commons, there was a chance Mrs Morgan could have faced a humiliating defeat if she pushed ahead with the plans.

The Department for Education (DfE) said ministers had listened to feedback from MPs, teachers, school leaders and parents since publishing the proposals in a White Paper.

Officials stressed the Government was still committed to seeing all schools becoming academies, but new laws forcing the "blanket conversion" of all schools will no longer be necessary.

Mrs Morgan said: " Making every school an academy is the best way to ensure every child, regardless of birth or background, has access to a world-class education.

"I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from Parliamentary colleagues and the education sector we will now change the path to reaching that goal.

"By focusing our efforts on those schools most at risk of failing young people, and encouraging 'good' and 'outstanding' schools to seize the opportunities of conversion, we will ensure the continued growth of the academy programme, empowering frontline heads and school leads, and transforming even more children's education."

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "This is another humiliating failure for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Under-performing schools will still be required to convert to academies where they can benefit from a local sponsor, while good schools will also be supported if they wish to change status.

In the last month 104 directive academy orders have been issued to failing schools, while the most recent monthly figures show 227 schools have put in applications to convert - the highest since the programme began.

The Government is also set to introduce powers which could trigger the conversion of all schools within a local authority if it is failing to meet a "minimum performance threshold", or if a "critical mass" of schools in the area have already become academies and the council can no longer viably support its remaining schools.

Ms Keates said: " Although the plan to convert every school to an academy has been dropped, the Government is still subjecting schools in particular Ofsted categories to forced academisation and still regards structural change as the answer to raising standards.

"This aspect of the academisation policy has not changed and the NASUWT will continue to challenge it."

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