The national organisation representing multi-academy trusts will “urgently” seek clarification from the education secretary over comments she made about the future of academisation.
Writing to members this morning, Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), said the organisation was “concerned about what appears to be a change in tone by the [Department for Education]”.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan was asked about the future of academisation during a live broadcast to the teaching profession yesterday, and she said there would be “no push or pause”.
Ms Keegan said: “I’m a fan of academies, and particularly when you see the excellent change and turnaround in fortunes of some schools.” But she added that she was “not dogmatic about one particular thing except quality”.
Ms Keegan’s comments came almost two years after the Schools White Paper revealed the government’s intention to have all schools “in a strong multi-academy trust or with plans to join or form one” by 2030.
CST’s briefing to members this morning states: “Asked whether all schools will be expected to join a trust, or whether the policy ambition has been paused, the secretary of state said ‘neither’; she did talk about the benefits of synergy and collaboration that the trust sector provides.
“However, we are concerned about what appears to be a change in tone by the department and will be seeking urgent clarification on exactly what this means in policy terms between now and the election.”
Keegan’s comments on academies ‘unhelpful’
Tom Campbell, chief executive officer at E-ACT multi-academy trust, told Tes that he accepted it was the job of the academies sector to “make the case” for trusts, but said “it is unhelpful to schools and trusts when it appears there is a lack of clarity or policy from government”.
He added: “Governing bodies in the maintained sector or trustees of [single-academy trusts] struggle with the ambiguity about what they should be planning for. I also have sympathy for local authorities, who were presumably reviewing their role in an environment where all schools would be academies, and are left having to plan and resource multiple scenarios.”
Warren Carratt, chief executive officer of Nexus MAT, said he is concerned by the “inconsistency of the messaging, compared to previous policy statements”, adding that it suggests “the utter absence of any clear strategy or vision for our state education sector”.
Mr Carratt said this was “more mind boggling when the apparent indifference is from the same secretary of state who held ambitions for delivering the academisation of the whole sector by 2030”.
He added that it sounded “like significant policy change being made up off the cuff, which is, at best, careless and, at worst, deeply worrying for all of us in state education”.
And Rob McDonough, CEO of East Midlands Education Trust and a former chair of CST, said he was “concerned about a policy position which is to effectively ‘sit on the fence’”.
Mr McDonough said that “since the Academies Act there has been a distinct lack of leadership from successive secretaries of state to see this initiative through to its logical conclusion - a fully academised system with all academies in trusts of at least 10 schools”.
He criticised the “lack of strategy in this space”, adding that the “lack of clear and decisive leadership on this issue is frustrating”.
Trust leaders previously said there needed to be a “more mature conversation” about the growth and shape of the academisation of schools, claiming the academies sector was at a “tipping point”.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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