Academy Guide January 2014

ACADEMY guide january 2014

REACHING FOR THE STARS

How academy status has enabled Fairfax Academy to unleash its full potential CH’ CH’ CH’ CHANGING… TERMS AND CONDITIONS How to handle employment relations post-conversion RULES OF ENGAGEMENT What to consider when engaging with stakeholders pre-conversion

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Welcome

The academy programme has had more than its fair share of criticism over the past few years, but in recent months the negative focus seems to have been directed towards free schools – I’m thinking primarily of the failing Al-Madinah School in Derby, a story that was splashed across the headlines throughout the autumn term.

But below the media radar, schools across the country continue to convert, with the latest figures showing that there are now 3,444 academies open in England, with many more planning to convert over the coming months. In Northampton, for example, every secondary school will be an academy from April.

But, as schools in Northampton have found, not everyone is embracing the new educational landscape.

This is why, in our second Academy Guide, we look at how you can best go about the consultation process (p6). After all, getting parents, staff and the wider local community on side is crucial. Without them, you might find yourself fighting an uphill battle, like that experienced by Downhills Primary School: they disregarded the views of 94% of stakeholders in the decision to become an academy and faced a timeconsuming high court battle as a result.

In this issue we also look at an academy and an academy trust that have got it spot on (p10 and p12), and find out from legal expert Vanessa Latham how academies should handle employee relations (p18).

And, if you have a burning question on a particular topic, please feel free to get in touch on editor@edexec. co.uk. Alternatively, if you’re an SBM who’s learned a lot from the conversion process, please do drop me a line. Other readers are guaranteed to be interested in what you have to say.

Have a happy January and enjoy the issue!

UPDATE 04 NEWS The latest news and developments in the world of academies

06 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT What to consider when engaging with stakeholders pre-conversion

TRANSITION 10 ACADEMY ADVOCATES How academy status has enabled one school to unleash its full potential

12 ACTIVELY SEEKING SUCCESS We speak to Active Learning Trust’s chief executive about how he thinks school-partner relationships are likely to evolve in the future

OPINION 16 EMBEDDING EQUALITY, INCREASING INTEGRATION Gabriel Heller Sahlgren on why market reforms in education reduce residential segregation and increase equality

HR AND LEGAL 18 CH’ CH’ CH’ CHANGING… TERMS AND CONDITIONS How to handle employment relations post-conversion

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news Academies fare better than local authority-maintained schools, says National Foundation for Education Research

The use of vocational and nontraditional subjects may be the reason why academy schools outperform their non-academy state school counterparts at GCSE level, new analysis has revealed.

The report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) – commissioned by the Local Government Association – found that in 2012 schools with academy status got higher average GCSE points scores and a larger proportion of pupils gaining the Government’s GCSE benchmark pass than local authority-maintained schools.

The research – based on pupil achievement recorded in the national pupil database – also found academy pupils made more rapid progress between key stage 2 and key stage 4,

when GCSEs are taken, than those at maintained schools.

But when the NFER statisticians compared schools by excluding GCSE-equivalent results such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and focusing on GCSE examinations, they found no difference between academy and non-academy school results, and in some circumstances found that longestablished academies performed worse than maintained schools once GCSEequivalent results were taken out.

The report’s authors concluded: “This may be an indication of different examination entry policies but does indicate that academies that have been open for more than two years do appear to perform particularly well in GCSEequivalent examinations.”

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New regulator for free schools and academies New bodies will be created to keep a check on the growing number of academies and free schools in England, it has been announced.

A group of centrally appointed regulators will oversee heads with proven track-records at schools or academies, with the power to take over failing schools.

Members of the eight headteacher boards will be elected by the heads of schools in their respective regions. The move is an attempt to answer unions’ contention that there is not enough scrutiny of these schools.

The boards and their regulators will be given delegated powers, allowing them “to investigate and change the sponsors and management of failing academies or free schools”, according to the Guardian, which has seen a leaked document on the plan.

At the moment, the DfE holds ultimate control over free schools and academies.

There are now more than 3,400 academies open in England, including more than half of the country’s secondary schools.

FAST

FACT

58% Fifty eight per cent of school business managers and bursars said that tablet computers are currently used in their school, according to a survey by The Key

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Yorkshire gets four more academies in £821m nationwide programme Four new academies will be opened in Yorkshire in 2015 providing 3,000 school places, a government minister has announced.

The four new academies will be in Bradford, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

The Bradford Diocesan Academy Trust, which already runs the Bradford Academy, will open a new school in the city. The Central Learning Partnership Trust, which was set up by Heath Park Academy in Wolverhampton, will run a new academy in Rotherham.

Oasis Community Learning, which sponsors 38 academies across the country including schools in Grimsby, Immingham and Scunthorpe, will set up a new academy in Sheffield, and Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) will run a new school in Doncaster.

Schools Minister David Laws said that the announcement was “a key milestone in our multi-billion pound plan to ensure

THEY SAID

there are enough high-quality school places around the country.”

He commented: “I am delighted by the quality of the sponsors we are announcing for new academies in Yorkshire. They are top-performing organisations that will use their expertise and know-how to ensure young people receive the high-quality education they deserve.”

The funding for the Targeted Basic Need Programme is part of the Government’s £5bn expenditure on creating new school places over the spending review period up to 2015. The Department for Education said this was more than double the amount spent by the last Labour government over “an equivalent four-year period”.

Sponsors for 39 new academies will be revealed under the Government’s Targeted Basic Need Programme which will see £821m invested. It will also fund 331 expansions providing 70,000 extra places across the country.

N EW S IN BRIEF

New head appointed at York’s second primary academy Zoe Lightfoot, who is currently deputy head at St George’s RC Primary School in Fishergate, has been named as the new head at Haxby Road Primary School, which will become an academy from 1 February.

Lightfoot will work closely with executive headteacher Richard Ludlow, who is responsible for Haxby Road and the city’s other primary academy, Robert Wilkinson in Strensall, which became an academy at the start of December.

Both schools are part of the Ebor Academy Alliance.

Lightfoot said: “I’m really excited and really looking forward to it. When I went to look round the school it had a really lovely ethos. There’s an absolute air of anticipation. Haxby Road has had a difficult time, but it is now part of the first primary academy in York and it’s at the forefront of the academy agenda.”

“As an outstanding school we’re exploring the autonomy [academy status] would offer us, particularly with regard to the curriculum. It would be the flexibility of what we actually teach, not so much with new subjects, but for content within our existing subjects. Additional autonomy is attractive as far as decision-making goes and there are financial benefits as well.”

Wolverhampton Girls High School headteacher Trudi Young on the benefits of academy conversion

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R U L E S of

ENGAGEMENT The consulting process pre-conversion can be a PR minefield. Nikki Withers looks at the key points around when and how to engage with local communities at this critical time

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ove them or loath them, stakeholders can be the makers or breakers of an academy conversion. If the process of stakeholder engagement is properly managed, they can become your champions – we’ve all heard the saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. But failure to do so can result in a PR nightmare. This was evidenced by Downhills Primary School, which disregarded the views of 94% of stakeholders in its decision to become an academy, resulting in an arduous and time-consuming high court battle.

According to the Academies Act 2010, before a maintained school is converted into an academy, the school’s governing body must:  consult such persons as they think appropriate  consult on the question of whether the school should be converted into an academy.

This can take place before or after an academy order, or an application for an academy order, has been made in respect of the school. However, if a school wants to keep stakeholders on their side, this shouldn’t be left too late – “Engage them early on in the process,” advises Mark Lewis, headteacher of The Thomas Alleyne Academy, which successfully converted in September.

The Department for Education’s website states that: “All schools are required to carry out a consultation but it is up to them to decide whom and how to consult. There is no specified length of time for the consultation and schools have flexibility in how it is conducted.” However, the claim of ‘flexibility’ needs to be treated with caution – the general law on consultation applies to this process.

TARGETED MESSAGES The first step in stakeholder engagement is to identify who the stakeholders are so

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that messages can be targeted at the right people. It’s important to remember that school stakeholders are not only the school board, parents, staff and students, but also local business owners, community groups and leaders, professional organisations, potential enrolments, youth organisations and the media – anyone who affects or is affected by the school’s actions.

The next step is to consult with these stakeholders on whether the school should apply for an academy order. “They should consult before they have made up their minds, allowing for the responses from stakeholders to influence their thinking,” advises David Wolfe, a public lawyer at Matrix. He notes that this won’t necessarily prevent the school from reaching the view that conversion might be a good idea – “that’s why they are consulting”, he says, adding that schools “must remain open-minded until they have heard what

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stakeholders have to say”.

A consultation period of at least eight weeks is recommended. This process isn’t about persuading stakeholders that the school should convert, but more about explaining what is happening. “The more stakeholders feel involved in the decisionmaking process, the more they are likely to welcome its outcome,” says Wolfe.

PERSONABLE APPROACH There are many ways to consult with stakeholders, from an official letter outlining the proposals through to open meetings and events that anyone can attend. It’s important to consider the benefits of face-to-face interactions – these are the people you want on your side. Be honest with them and tell them how the conversion could benefit them, and how they can become more closely involved. It’s also important to keep them updated on progress, and give them opportunities to contribute to the consultation.

Lewis explains how The Thomas Alleyne Academy successfully engaged with its stakeholders last year: “We held a number of information events for all our stakeholders pre-conversion,” he says. “These were held in a number of different formats. We

THE MORE STAKEHOLDERS FEEL INVOLVED IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, THE MORE THEY ARE LIKELY TO WELCOME ITS OUTCOME had initial presentations from ourselves and our proposed academy sponsor, North Hertfordshire College. We also held an event with a number of stands relating to different topics where stakeholders could ask informal questions about our future development as an academy.”

He adds that they also involved their

student parliament from a very early stage.

“Before our governors passed their resolution to convert to academy status, they asked the student parliament to feed back to them their views… Our students made us realise there were concerns about uniform and school name changes that we could provide instant reassurance about.”

Something schools should avoid is holding a consultation that doesn’t actually consult the stakeholders. “If stakeholders feel they were simply dictated to and that any claimed ‘consultation’ exercise was not meaningful, school life will suffer,” says Wolfe. “In my experience people do not mind being disagreed with at the end of a proper discussion nearly as much as they mind just being told. And, of course, listening to stakeholders might lead to a change of mind, whether on the principle of conversion, or some aspect of it.”

And remember; once you’ve got your stakeholders on your side, don’t forget to keep them there.

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Don’t let absence make the costs grow larger Staff absence can be both costly and debilitating for schools. Here, Jon Taylor, head of education at insurance broker Marsh, explains how you and your team can prepare for and curb spiralling staff absence

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or anyone working in education, the stresses and strains of the profession are all too familiar. The facts speak for themselves. According to the 2012 Absence Management Survey from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD)* the average person working in education is absent through illness for almost three working weeks per year – 13.2 days to be precise. That’s approaching twice the current national average of 7.6 days.

Whatever the causes of staff absence, the knock-on effects can be significant. First and foremost, staff members are suffering levels of illness that affect their personal lives as much as their work. Equally, absence disrupts lessons and puts pressure on colleagues to fill in – so it’s bad news all round.

Then there are the costs associated with staff absence. On average, absence in the public sector costs £721 per employee, per year*. Given that the fulltime headcount for teachers in schools and academies is approximately 375,000, we can roughly estimate the total cost of absence at over £250m – a staggering and unwelcome sum given current cost pressures.

The figures are disturbing, and highlight a

need to protect staff well-being, reduce the amount of time staff members are away due to illness, and in so doing protect the quality of education.

POSITIVE ACTION There are, of course, steps that can be taken – absence management policies and monitoring procedures are already in place in most schools and academies across the UK. In addition, supply teacher or “stop-loss” insurance is widely used, and is a cost effective tool in managing the budget for staff absence.

However, these measures do not prevent members of staff from falling ill, suffering stress, or incurring common but debilitating ailments like musculoskeletal injuries, including repetitive strain injuries and back problems.

What can be done to curtail absence in the first place? The words “private medical insurance” often have school business managers raising their

eyebrows at the thought of the ‘cost’ but such an investment could markedly reduce the number of days lost to sickness in a school.

First of all, rapid access to diagnosis and treatment is likely to shorten absence periods.

For instance, musculoskeletal problems are second only to colds and flu as causes of absence – yet, 94% of cases can be quickly treated through physiotherapy, which can be covered under a private medical insurance policy with appointments scheduled to suit the school day*.

The extent of a private medical scheme can also be tailored to meet the specific needs of a school. For example a “key staff” scheme could involve as few as three employees – often it is the absence of a headteacher, school business manager or finance director that is most keenly felt.

Providing this valuable benefit can be good for staff morale and, consequently, employee retention – there can be financial benefits too with private medical insurance schemes available from as little as £100 per employee per year. Reducing absence periods and arranging treatment at convenient times, for example, to coincide with holiday periods, can have a marked effect on staffing costs and makes private medical insurance an investment worth making.

Source: *www.cipd.co.uk/research/_absence-management Marsh Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. © Copyright 2014 Marsh Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Fairfax school in Sutton Coldfield boasts impressive GCSE results - 81% of pupils achieved five A* to C including in English and maths. With progress levels far exceeding the national average, JESS PIKE speaks to headteacher Andy Bird about how academy status has enabled the academy to unleash its full potential

REACHING FOR T H E S TA R S W

hen Andy Bird first arrived at Fairfax one November morning in 2011, you could have forgiven him for wanting to turn straight back around. Gathered outside the school were his new staff, not assembled to welcome him through the school gates, but standing with pickets and looking rather disgruntled (and cold). As he drove past the strike – which he could see was a reaction to the school’s recent academisation – someone asked: “Can we help?” “Possibly.” he replied.

“I’m the new head!”

A lot has happened since then, and thankfully there hasn’t been any further strike action. But why such a vehement reaction?

“The school is based near Birmingham,” Bird explains, “so it was quite heavily targeted by the unions and became like a political hot potato. Staff were unhappy because questions weren’t being answered and no one was being clear about why conversion was going to be good for the school and pupils.”

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CAREFUL CONSIDERATIONS Fairfax, a secondary school, became an academy in November 2011, so three months later in January, staff (and students) were still adjusting to the changes. The initial unrest, Bird believes, could have been avoided had the reasons behind conversion been communicated transparently. After all, academisation was a natural step for Fairfax, which was previously a foundation school and thus fairly au fait with being autonomous.

“The governing body were quite forward thinking and wanted to embrace the new educational landscape,” Bird says. “And yes, there were some challenges – but they were overcome.” One such challenge was the reaction from parents, some of whom were guided by the political agenda and swayed by negative press surrounding academies. “Giving the parents a clear idea of what was going to happen and why was crucial,” he says. “The school had a clear vision of what academy status would bring and the reasons why we

were doing it, and the benefits for the children.”

Bird set up a parents’ forum, which was a vehicle for parents to help shape academy policy. Here they were encouraged to voice ideas regarding the curriculum, homework, leadership and governance – and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

“Essentially we were approaching them as customers of this school to find out their thoughts and opinions, and they’ve absolutely loved having the opportunity to shape policy.”

EMBRACING NEW FREEDOMS Since conversion, Bird’s team have taken on the increased financial responsibility which comes with academy status, but Bird is adamant that this has been a positive side effect of the process. “In my mind, the extra scrutiny placed on us is a good thing. It has made us accountable for the public purse and made us more transparent – and ultimately allowed us to plough back as much money into the school as possible.”

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Bird admits that schools that aren’t on top of their finances should approach conversion with caution, but says that for Fairfax the new financial freedoms have allowed them to think outside the box, particularly in terms of generating income. “We ran a very tight ship on finance, and continue to do so,” he says.

“And back in the summer of 2012 we set up our own graphic design company within the school, made up of two graphic designers. As well as doing work for the school, they also do work for local businesses and other schools and bring in revenue that way.”

The new status has also allowed Bird to innovate and update the curriculum: “Being an ex-professional sportsman in my younger days, I didn’t agree with the national curriculum’s view of PE and felt that a programme based on actually playing and learning different sports, whilst building on the legacy of the Olympics, would be more effective and would encourage more children to take part in sport. So we changed it.”

Bird also recognised that staff training could be improved, and put aside £100,000 for a ‘coaching for learning’ system for professional development. This is personalised professional development, much valued by staff. They receive one-on-one coaching specific to their needs – which they report is far better than being lectured to in the hall on an inset day.

Bird’s also keen to emphasise the importance of brand image following conversion. Fairfax redesigned their logo, their badge and uniform to reflect its traditional values. “The uniform gives the students an identity, which they love, and means the academy, as a brand, has become a powerful tool within the community.”

his bugbears is lack of guidance for leaders on finance and governance – but it has allowed his school to excel and be in charge of its own destiny. His advice to schools considering conversion? To think carefully about their ethos and the overreaching principals behind conversion, and to seek guidance from other schools that have already been through the process.

Fairfax has now been recognised as a potential sponsor for other schools, of which Bird is rightly proud. But his audible pride doesn’t mean that he wants to create a carbon copy of Fairfax elsewhere. Instead, he’s quite happy to continue working hard to innovate the curriculum and drive up standards for the most important people at

SOARING HIGH

Fairfax – the students. And, after hearing about their impressive achievements, something tells me that a Midlands school looking for inspiration could do far worse than forge links with this high-flying academy on the outskirts of Sutton Coldfield.

Bird is aware that much of the political hullaballoo surrounding the academy programme has now died down, and he suspects that strikes are a thing of the past.

Conversion won’t be easy for anyone – one of

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Active Learning Trust (ALT) is a new partner for schools aiming to convert into an academy. It has minimal back office support, works out of a small office in a school in Cambridge, and focuses purely on delivering a value for money service for its schools. Jess Pike speaks to chief executive Clive Bush about what the trust does and how he thinks school-partner relationships are likely to evolve in the coming years 1 2 A C ADE MY G U I D E

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live Bush is a straight-talking, 100-words-a-minute man who has eons of experience, knows the education system inside out and isn’t afraid to tell you exactly what he thinks about big academy trusts, disparate funding and school improvement. A former headteacher of three secondary schools in Cumbria and Cambridgeshire, Bush has been on the teaching frontline since 1989, and knows what makes failing schools dip and outstanding schools shine.

As chief executive of the Active Learning Trust (ALT), a non-profit organisation partnering schools through the process to academy status, he now works closely with the headteachers of five of the trust’s schools in Cambridge and Suffolk, supporting them in making the changes necessary for success.

Bush’s vision for the ALT reflects his unapologetic views on the world of academies. “There’s a tendency among some academy sponsors to adopt a very formulaic approach,” he says. “They project the idea that they have all the answers and that if a school comes along to them and does what they say then everything will get fixed.”

Unsurprisingly, Bush isn’t of this camp.

“I think you have to look at the local context of the school and build from that rather than build from some external model. The external models might work short-term but they’re not going to work long term. And I think there’s a bit of reluctance among some people to admit to that.”

INSPIRING EXCELLENCE Bush’s approach to the five (soon to be seven) schools under the ALT umbrella reflects his steely determination to take every school on its own merits – or otherwise.

Theirs is quite an eclectic mix: the largest (a secondary) has 1,700 pupils, the smallest (a primary) has just 210; some are converter schools that are choosing to covert in order to improve; others are in special measures and have no choice.

Bush and his team of experts work closely with each school, advising them on a number of areas, including behaviour and attendance, HR, premises and finance. “We were careful to ensure we had people on our books who we knew were highly effective in the classroom,” he explains. “This is all about making a sustained difference, not a flashin-the-pan difference. You’ve got to get into what’s holding things back and correct those things on a deep level.”

Everyone in the ALT team has worked in schools that have had particular difficulties in a given subject or area, such as behaviour, as well as some that were below the Government floor target. Nothing goes into a school without Bush’s say so; ALT controls the contracts and quality assures the processes so that weak suppliers can be weeded out.

One of the most impressive turnarounds has been Neal Wade Academy in March, Cambridge, which was awarded fours in every area by Ofsted in March 2011

despite historical low aspirations and low expectations among staff and students. “The attitude was – ‘These are just Fenlands kids, what do you expect?’” Bush says. “My view is – get rid of that nonsense. I expect every child to reach their full potential, no matter where they’re from, the colour of their skin, the language they speak.”

Today, the school’s on a rapid upward climb. The first thing Bush did was to spend time with the school’s headteacher to identify any potential problems; he quickly discovered that the headteacher was perfectly capable, but lacking support. “We carried out a detailed audit of the school and built an action plan, and worked our way through that over the course of a year,” he explains. “We also did some very focused intervention work, and shifted the attitudes of parents, students and staff dramatically.”

This was achieved through communicating the school’s new vision of boosting aspirations and expectations. “We also introduced a new school uniform, which the kids loved,” says Bush. “They said they felt like adults and are really proud to wear it, which is great.”

Serendipitously, at the time of conversion the school was also due to be partially rebuilt, which meant that in September the kids were part of a completely new institution. Of course, such a transformation isn’t straightforward, and the prickly issue of personnel was one that reared its head early on. “The tough side of the process is that 14 teachers had to go,” Bush says. “They weren’t good enough – and the bullet has to be bitten, it can’t be avoided. The bottom line is to think whether you’d want your own child to be taught in this class. If the answer’s no, then they have to go.”

CROSS-FERTILISATION Bush visits every ALT school at least once a month and he and his team are in regular contact with the heads. Their aim, he says, wasn’t to establish a hands-off corporate structure with a big office – instead they work from one small office in a school in Cambridge.

“We’ve shied away from bureaucracies and our management structure’s very flat – all of that’s quite deliberate.”

Joining ALT means becoming part of a network, with schools empowered to help each other through uploading their advice onto the trust’s website, and encouraged

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to steer how the trust itself develops. This small network is part of the reason why Bush isn’t looking to expand beyond 15 schools – this tight-knit community of schools would lose its closeness.

His team’s role, he says, is to free up the heads to do their jobs – as demonstrated with one of the primary schools in Lowestoft, which was put into special measures in October 2012. The school, located on the fringes of a deprived coastal town, is “a completely different place now”.

“It’s vibrant, it’s energised, there isn’t a queue of disgruntled parents at the door, and the kids aren’t hanging out of windows,” says Bush. “The head always knew what she wanted to do but didn’t have the support to do it. She can now think more creatively and take more risks.”

Bush differentiates between the head and SBM roles, describing the coming together of the two positions as “fundamentally wrong”. The support ALT offers reflects this: a separate arm of the organisation called ALT Education is focused on providing procurement, premises and financial advice.

It’s currently working with a school in South London to pull apart and rebuild their admin systems, for example.

“If you go into headship, you ought to be an expert in teaching and learning – don’t get distracted by other things. In schools where the heads are distracted, standards tend to flat line or dip,” Bush says. “The first thing I did when I joined a previous school as head was to hire a team around me to deal with the site, HR and finance.”

SHIFTING GROUND The nature of the academy programme – controversial as it is - means that negative press abounds, and parents often need convincing that an academy school will work for their children. (Bush himself urges educationalists to “park the politics”).

When ALT decided to tender for the new primary school in Cambridge, it faced fierce opposition from local parents, who were distrustful of what they saw as a moneygrabbing organisation looking to stamp its corporate mark on the local school. “We ran a series of public meetings, and – crucially – got the local councillor on board. We pointed out that the local authority had no choice, that the school had to be an academy and we’d won the tender,” Bush explains. “Plus, we didn’t change the name to ‘academy’ – it was Chesterton

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THERE’S A TENDENCY AMONG SOME ACADEMY SPONSORS TO ADOPT A VERY FORMULAIC APPROACH

Primary School, which they liked. We don’t feel the need to stamp ‘academy’ on each school.”

Of course, in an educational landscape where schools in different counties are funded differently, balancing budgets remains a tricky – and frustrating – issue. For a group of educationalists without the backing of a millionaire investor, this means that investments need to be carefully considered and costs kept low.

Bush advises against schools converting alone. An effective network like ALT can be the most successful driver of change, with cross-fertilisation of ideas meaning schools are able to develop and grow rapidly. “Don’t just join a group of schools because they’re there,” he warns. “There are some big providers and multi-academy trusts whose schools aren’t doing very well – only join if it feels right for your school.”

Bush is clearly passionate about educational improvement and relishes the fact that his work at ALT affords him close proximity to the classroom. ALT schools are thriving because his team of experts know what schools need, don’t use a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and are transparent and open about their processes. And, after speaking to the trust’s leader, it’s obvious that those schools fortunate enough to join the network in the next few years will thrive in the same way as their ALT counterparts.

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EMBEDDING EQUALITY I N C R E A S I N G I N T E G R AT I O N Market reforms in education reduce residential segregation and increase equality in outcomes, argues Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, director of research at the Centre for Market Reform of Education. Here, he explains his reasoning

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F I UN PA D NA CT E

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n the debate surrounding the Government’s free schools programme, and other pro-market education reforms, detractors often depict horror scenarios in which integration and equality are sacrificed on the altar of choice and competition. Market reforms, they argue, inevitably increase segregation and inequality in the education system.

The critics have been bolstered by revelations that schools in areas with more parental choice, for example those with a higher proportion of free schools and academies, are more segregated. However, what is rarely discussed is the limitation of such findings. In a recent research report, I have analysed the rigorous studies on the impact of choice on segregation and equality in educational outcomes. The conclusion is far from the doomsday predictions made by the Government’s opponents.

because residential segregation would have been worse and preferences for fee-paying independent schools might have been stronger had it not been for the implementation of pro-choice reforms. This is supported by the fact that research comparing different countries, which escapes the problem of altered residential sorting, finds that there is no adverse impact of free schools on school segregation. In other words, on the whole, the evidence does not back up the gloom and doom of the Government’s detractors.

THE RICH-POOR DIVIDE For many, of course, the most important argument against choice is not increased segregation per se, but that it increases the rich-poor divide in pupil performance.

This is a justified concern. But the evidence does not support it. In fact, research shows that free school competition decreases the influence of parents’ backgrounds on achievement in international surveys, indicating that market reforms improve equality in education outcomes.

NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS In terms of school segregation, it’s not a clear-cut story. Some studies find that choice increases school segregation, while others find no impact at all. The problem is that none of them adequately take into account the fact that well-off parents often pay for private education or relocate closer to better state schools when proximity is the key factor in admissions.

Indeed, because of the latter, the evidence suggests that pro-choice measures decrease residential segregation, which is an important outcome in its own right, and to a certain extent lessens the degree to which parents prefer fee-paying independent schools.

So without the implementation of the 2010 Academies Act, many parents are likely to have relocated and some would have bought a private education – and long-run school segregation would not necessarily have been lower in areas that are characterised by more choice opportunities today. These hypothetical scenarios must be taken into account when studying the impact of choice on school segregation.

And, intriguingly, overall school segregation actually fell together with market reforms since 1988 in England. This may very well be

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S OPPONENTS NEED TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT THERE IS ALWAYS CHOICE IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM At the same time, choice does not seem to impact achievement differences between pupils, and market reforms tend to benefit pupils from different backgrounds to the same extent overall. In other words, the argument that choice decreases education equality is not supported in the literature. It’s based more on ideology than evidence.

What the Government’s opponents need to understand is that there is always choice in the education system. The alternative to institutionalised school choice, in which all can and are encouraged to participate, is choice for only the privileged. You cannot prevent people from moving house or from sending their children to privately-funded schools. And if you don’t extend choice to the less well off in that situation, you will maintain an unfair advantage among the rich. Indeed, unsurprisingly,

research does suggest that more private funding leads to higher school segregation and lower equality in outcomes. The whole point of market reforms in education is therefore to extend richer parents’ privileges to everybody; only then will the competitive tide grow large enough to lift all boats.

A POSITIVE OUTLOOK The Government’s attempts to instil more choice in the system should therefore be supported. But more can be done to maximise the positive impact on integration and equality – good programme design is always crucial for ensuring positive outcomes. My report therefore proposes reforms in this respect. For example, lotteries could replace proximity as the main tiebreak device when schools are over-subscribed, since this would ensure equal access to schools regardless of where pupils reside. Even now, most academies and free schools employ proximity to determine pupil allocation when they are over-subscribed, which must change.

This could be combined with covering costs of transportation to ensure that parents from lower socio-economic backgrounds can also make more ambitious choices.

Also, the Government should increase incentives among successful schools to scale up, since it raises equality by enabling more pupils to attend these schools. Giving bonuses to school leaders of high-performing schools to scale up is one way of doing so. Allowing for-profit companies to own and run free schools and academies is another.

While the English academies and free schools programmes have been somewhat disappointing so far, this can only be addressed by scaling up the system, not rubbishing what has already been achieved.

Rather than screaming their lungs out at any suggestion of market reform in education, choice opponents should think about how the Government’s reforms can be improved further. By changing the incentive structure fundamentally, it’s possible to raise efficiency, integration and equality at the same time.

Gabriel Heller Sahlgren is director of research at the Centre for Market Reform of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He is the author of Incentivising excellence: school choice and education quality

A CADEM Y G UI DE 1 7

HR & LEGAL

Ch’ ch’ ch’ changing…

terms and conditions

Where state schools employ their teaching staff in accordance with the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document and the ‘burgundy book’, academies are free to appoint on non-standard terms.

Vanessa Latham from law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP, explains how to handle employment relations

W

hen academies were created, one of the fears expressed by the teaching profession was whether their terms and conditions of employment could be changed. Much was reported at the time about the effect of Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006

1 8 A C ADE MY G U I D E

(TUPE) which applies when a school moves to academy status. This legislation protects those terms and conditions and means that schools cannot vary them if the change is as a result of the transfer.

It’s now more than three years since schools became entitled to apply for academy status so what’s the present position? The protection offered under TUPE only relates to changes that are connected to the transfer to academy status. So once a few years have passed, it’s unlikely any proposed changes will benefit from that protection.

Does this mean that academies can simply change teachers’ terms and conditions? The short answer is no. The general principle is that no employer can unilaterally change an employee’s contract of employment. There are a number of ways that this can be achieved legally – however, attempts to alter terms and conditions are often problematic. Employees may refuse to work under altered terms; they may allow losses to accrue over a number of years before bringing a claim for breach of contract; they may resign and claim unfair dismissal.

The associated costs can be significant when multiplied by the number of staff involved and so it’s important that this is done properly.

AGREEING A VARIATION The first option for most academies will be to seek teachers’ agreement to the variation.

Many teachers are unhappy with the changes being imposed by the coalition government, and academy status offers a welcome opportunity for schools and teachers to work together on agreeing their own terms.

What was originally a fear has become an opportunity for teachers to have a direct say in their contracts of employment.

Generally where both sides agree to a change, new terms that are more satisfactory to both sides can be drawn up. The exception to this is where change is deemed to have occurred in connection with a TUPE transfer, when there will be limits on what can be agreed.

Changes to contracts are often negotiated by way of collective bargaining with unions. Academies must bear in mind that agreements with unions are only binding

HR & LEGAL

on individual teachers if they have granted the union the power to vary their contract of employment in the first place. Care should therefore be taken to establish the extent of the union’s bargaining authority. In practice, this shouldn’t pose problems as collective bargaining is more likely to benefit individual teachers, and they are accordingly likely to grant authority.

Where collective agreement is not possible, individual negotiation will be the next recourse for academies. A period of consultation followed by a simple exchange of signatures on the new contract will suffice.

Although contractual amendments should be made in writing, and with appropriate legal advice, it’s not technically necessary for an agreement to be binding. However, written documentation will facilitate compliance with the employer’s legal duty to notify employees in writing of their terms and conditions within four weeks of any change.

WHAT IF EMPLOYEES WON’T AGREE?

MANY TEACHERS ARE UNHAPPY WITH THE CHANGES BEING IMPOSED

BY THE COALITION GOVERNMENT

Where teachers don’t sign new contracts, but continue to work (without protest), it may be that they can be deemed to have accepted the new terms through their conduct. This is the general rule with changes having immediate effect, such as a change to working hours or to pay. Changes having delayed effect will be less likely to be deemed to have been accepted through conduct.

As a general rule, academies are putting themselves at risk if they settle for silence as a sign of acceptance.

Any protestation from a teacher, within a reasonable period of time, will mean that they are not bound by any change. Other options open to disgruntled teachers are resignation for constructive dismissal; continuing to work under the new contract whilst simultaneously claiming constructive dismissal from the old contract; and continuing to work under the old contract while continuing to protest against the new one, so that it never becomes binding on them.

The second option for employers is to utilise variation clauses within contracts which are often a viable way for employers to alter terms and conditions. However, such an option will not be open to academies currently operating under the standard terms.

Academies may wish to bear in mind the

utility of such clauses and consider including them in their new terms and conditions.

The third and final option open to academies is to dismiss, then re-hire their teachers. This is only a realistic option where the employer can show that its employees could not be persuaded to consent to a change, and even then an employment tribunal or court would be likely to make a finding of unfair dismissal (albeit with a relatively small award for compensation, because the offer of re-employment would mean that there was no consequential losses). It would be for the academy to show a ‘sound, good business reason’ for imposing a contractual change for the dismissal to be fair. Taking a limited hit in this way can ultimately prove cheaper and more appropriate for schools.

From a pragmatic perspective, however, there are significant costs to this course of action, in terms of damage to workplace morale and conviviality. Furthermore, academies would have to go through an extensive process of collective consultation if there are more than 20 employees involved in contract re-negotiation.

FINAL CONSIDERATION One important point to remember is that in order for a contractual variation to bind the parties to it, English law requires there to be “consideration”. This means that the academy must give something of value in return for the changes that the employee makes for the benefit of the academy – such as an increase in pay, a bonus for accepting the changes, or more favourable salary review provisions.

The creation of academies has given both schools and teachers the opportunity to move away from what many see as unwelcome changes to teachers’ terms and conditions. The order of action for academies will therefore be to attempt to seek agreement with teachers for proposed changes, and only if that fails, to consider dismissal and rehiring of staff. As is always the case with employment relations, a pragmatic and common-sense approach should come first, and conflict should be avoided, where possible.

Vanessa Latham is a partner in the employment team at Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP

A CA DEM Y G UI DE 1 9

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