Last month the Department for Education announced its new Education and Adoption Bill. According to the DfE in their press release the bill will seek to “sweep away bureaucratic and legal loopholes’. Any school found inadequate by Ofsted will be expected to convert to academy status, as well as those schools that are found to be ‘coasting’, all of course without having to go through the process of consultation with staff, parents and the local community.

In fact Secretary of State for Education in her press release refers to the process of consolation set out in the 2010 Academies Act as ‘’leading to roadblocks’. This Bill which is being debated in parliament at the moment currently shows the Tories are wasting no time with their ideological crusade to privatise our state education system. As of June 2015, there are 4,676 academies open in England with many more in the pipeline. Since the introduction of academies in 2000 under the New Labour government, the rhetoric surrounding them has been one of success yet report after report shows the academy system has been found seriously wanting with little to no evidence to suggest they improve results or make for a better education system. Continue reading →