Councils have a better record than academy trusts of turning around failing schools, according to new research commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA).
Local authorities used the findings of the report to argue they should be allowed to intervene in all types of schools that are branded ‘inadequate’.
However, the methodology of the research was criticised by a former Downing Street policy advisor.
The report came as the Association of Directors of Children’s Services called for “an open and honest discussion about the return of an academy to the LA family of schools when a multi-academy trust either fails or hands back a school when an alternative sponsor cannot be found”.
The report for the LGA examines the 429 schools that held an Ofsted inadequate grade in December 2013, and were local authority maintained at the time.
Of these, 152 were still local authority maintained by December 2017, while 212 had become sponsor-led academies.
Researchers found that all of the maintained schools had been re-inspected by December 2017, with 76 per cent jumping to ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.
In contrast, 155 of the schools that had become sponsor-led academies had been re-inspected in the same period, and of these 59 per cent had been improved to ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.
Since 2016, all non-academies that Ofsted rates ‘inadequate’ must legally become academies.
Roy Perry, vice chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said the findings demonstrate the “compelling need for councils to be recognised as effective education improvement partners, ready and able to support schools of all types”.
He added: “It is not fair on children and parents to be denied the chance of a better education because their local council - with expertise in school improvement - is barred from helping.”
Jonathan Simons, a former senior policy advisor at 10 Downing Street and ex-head of education at the Policy Exchange thinktank, raised concerns about the report’s methodology.
He tweeted: “If the failing schools which are most likely to be able to turn around stay with LAs, and the worst ones go to academy status, *of course* the former have quicker turnaround potential. What a ridiculous piece of work.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “These calculations are misleading and fail to take into account that every school will have individual challenges, some of which, such as poor leadership and management, are far greater and taken longer to turn around, than others.”
He added that returning schools to local authorities “would be a backwards step and would not necessarily deliver the improvements in education children deserve”, and said that, of inspected sponsored academies whose predecessors were inadequate, 65 per cent are now either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.
Last month, the Education Policy Institute published research which showed little difference between the performance of council-run schools and academies, and called for strong councils to be allowed to take schools from struggling academy chains.
