The government has failed to put in place “strong formal processes to enable academy trusts to be held to account”, council education directors have warned.
They say the Department for Education’s regional directors lack sufficient local knowledge to tackle emerging problems quickly enough.
England’s nine regional directors act on behalf of education secretary Gillian Keegan, making decisions across a wide range of areas, including on school underperformance and the growth of multi-academy trusts.
A report from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) says the system is not working as well as it could be.
“To date, government has not put in place strong formal processes to enable academy trusts to be held to account,” it states.
“Whilst this may be a function of the DfE regional directors, given the size of each geographical footprint, they do not have the same level of local knowledge as a [local authority], which will be aware of emerging problems much earlier.”
Council concerns about MAT oversight
In practice, local authorities can find that there is a “lack of alignment between their role and that of a regional director”, such as “when an LA challenges a school for a lack of inclusive practice”, the report says.
The ADCS also warns that there is an “urgent need” for a coherent overarching long-term plan for schools.
A rapid turnover of education secretaries has led to a lack of clear direction on schools policy and a fragmented system, the organisation says.
It warns that there has been a significant churn at national government level, including five holders of the role of education secretary since the 2022 Schools White Paper was published.
And it says that, following the withdrawal of the Schools Bill, “the viability or longevity of what is set out in the White Paper remains unclear”.
The ADCS has made a series of recommendations to incentivise schools to be more inclusive and to strengthen the role of councils in decision making.
The body warns that local councils are currently in an “impossible” position of having a number of statutory duties to fulfil in relation to schools but a lack of power and reduced funding to be able to do so.
Here are six key recommendations made by the ADCS:
1. Local decision making over MAT growth
The ADCS proposes moving decision-making powers over academy trust growth out of Whitehall and into the hands of local partnerships.
These “place-based” partnerships would give councils a leading role in holding academy schools to account, deciding which trusts should operate in a council area and which schools should join different trusts.
The ADCS said the partnerships could involve a DfE regional director but that the decisions would no longer solely be the preserve of the DfE.
2. More council powers over admissions
The report highlights how councils have the duty of ensuring that pupils have a school place but “do not have the power to compel schools to admit a child to avoid learners having to wait weeks for a school place to become available”.
It calls for local authorities to be given powers to coordinate in-year admissions in respect of all state schools in their area, and powers to compel all state-funded schools to admit a child.
The ADCS adds this “should include meaningful powers of direction over admissions/exclusions covering all state-funded schools in relation to excluded pupils, pupils with [education, health and care plans] and children in care”.
Plans to give councils this power were included in the Schools White Paper.
3. Reforms to promote an inclusive system
The report also calls for a number of reforms to give schools more of an incentive to be inclusive.
These include Ofsted creating an “inclusion profile” as part of future school inspection frameworks to “ensure schools accurately reflect their local child population and therefore meet the needs of their local community”.
It also calls on the DfE to remove barriers to schools being more inclusive by overhauling the school accountability system, shifting away from “the current focus on academic attainment and taking into account the broader purpose of education”.
And it suggests that the DfE should create a collaborative standard for academy trusts requiring trusts to work constructively with each other, councils, the wider public and the third sector.
4. Councils should be able to open new SEND schools
The report says that the current process of applying to the DfE for the creation of new special free schools is taking too long and results in increasing number of children travelling further and a growing reliance on independent schools.
It calls for local councils to be given both the permission and resources to open and run their own special schools to “ensure local need is met along with sufficiency duties”.
5. Focus on excluded pupils
The ADCS calls on the DfE Regions Group to focus on tackling and minimising exclusions, working in partnership with councils, which hold responsibility for children excluded from school, to find local resolutions.
It also calls on the government to create a register for children not in school - something that had been planned in the Schools Bill before it was withdrawn last year.
6. Revive plan for council-run MATS
The report warns that there are not enough high-performing MATs available to fulfil the DfE’s ambitions.
“Even where a MAT is classed as high-performing, this does not necessarily mean it is the best fit for a school, as each has its own unique context,” it says.
The report adds that the ADCS would, therefore, welcome a revisiting of the proposal, as outlined in the Schools White Paper, for the creation of local authority-led MATs.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
