The government should prioritise a “slower transition” towards a fully multi-academy trust-based school system to avoid “trust quality” problems, according to a new report.
The National Foundation for Educational Research report argues that rapidly achieving a high-quality all-MAT system “is not possible without appropriate resources, policy solutions and building sufficient MAT capacity”.
In last year’s Schools White Paper, the government revealed its intention to have all schools “in a strong multi-academy trust or with plans to join or form one” by 2030.
The NFER report says that if the government were to pursue and meet this target by the end of the decade that 25 local authority maintained mainstream schools and three single academy trust schools would need to join a MAT each week.
It also warns that such a “rapid” transition could cause issues for “trust quality”, potentially impacting on other educational policy priorities such as Covid-19 recovery.
Just under half (47 per cent) of all mainstream schools in England are currently academised, though many of these are in single-school trusts.
And the report also suggests that some schools that have not yet been academised may not be attractive to a MAT or may struggle to find a suitable trust, adding that small, rural schools “often face acute financial challenges and unique circumstances which established MATs have less experience of managing”.
The ‘risks’ of quick academy trust growth
In a survey of directors of children’s services in local authorities in England, carried out for the report, four-fifths said they were concerned that some schools in their area risked being left behind because MATs would be reluctant to take them on.
While just 6 per cent of responding LAs were actively in favour of the government’s aim for all schools to be in a “strong” MAT of at least 10 schools or 7,500 pupils by 2030, two-thirds were in favour of establishing their own MATs.
But only 39 per cent of LA respondents felt they were likely to begin the process of establishing their own MAT within the next three years.
Jenna Julius, NFER research director and co-author of the report, said that a rapid transition to an all-MAT system would require schools to join MATs and trusts to merge at “an unprecedented scale”.
“The government needs to prioritise a slower transition that allows more time to build MAT capacity. The suggested pace and timing of system change risks creating issues for trust quality, potentially affecting the educational outcomes for young people,” she added.
“It is crucial that efforts and funding to develop and grow capacity in MATs are focused on those schools that may currently struggle to join a MAT, and that funding is targeted appropriately to ensure their long-term sustainability.”
Some sector leaders have agreed with the report, with Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, saying that the ambition to have all schools in MATs by 2030 is “totally unrealistic”.
“Rather than continuing to pursue this unachievable target, the government needs to deal with far more pressing issues. Their immediate focus should be on addressing the recruitment and retention crisis, which is making it increasingly difficult to put teachers in front of classes, and the long-term underfunding of education from early years through to post-16,” she said.
“These are much greater threats to educational standards over the next few years than some schools not being in multi-academy trusts.”
Focus on school structures ‘an unnecessary distraction’
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “The government’s focus on school structures is an unnecessary distraction when there are much more pressing issues, such as school funding, recruitment and retention, pay and the crisis in SEND provision, that all need urgent attention.
“While some of our members in multi-academy trusts have reported benefits, the government still hasn’t convinced many local authority schools that the switch is the right thing for them and their communities. When we surveyed our members last year, more than three-quarters (76 per cent) disagreed or strongly disagreed that a fully trust-led system would improve pupil outcomes.”
And Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that achieving the full academisation plan “in such a short space of time” would require “huge upheaval, great cost, and would ultimately be counterproductive”.
“The fact that the government persists with this policy indicates that they are not at all concerned by the huge problems in the academies policy and the confusing and fragmented schools landscape brought into being by the expansion of MATs,” she added.
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) - the sector body for school trusts - said that the report made “some valuable points in relation to the resources and policy framework needed to support the transition to a trust-led system”, but added that “disappointingly, the research includes a survey of the view of local authorities, but not similar engagement with school leaders and teachers in trusts”.
“CST has never been in favour of all schools being forced to become academies by an arbitrary date. It is worth remembering, though, that academies will have existed for 30 years by 2030, so it seems strange to describe the White Paper’s ambition as ‘rapid system change’,” she said.
“There are questions that need to be addressed but we should not let perfect be the enemy of good. There is no reason why more pupils, teachers and schools cannot reap the benefits of being in a strong trust while we work across the sector to resolve them.
“We have invited the NFER to work closely with CST and others with direct experience of academies to help us do this.”
The NFER said that the main focus of the research was to investigate the feasibility of achieving an all-MAT system in the near future and to capture the role that LAs may play in helping their schools to facilitate this transition. It said the methodology used for this independent research was appropriate for answering these research questions.
Government faced previous warnings
This is not the first time the government has faced warnings about the feasibility of the 2030 target.
Back in November, a survey revealed that there was “significant scepticism” among decision-makers in multi-academy trusts about the government’s vision.
Trust leaders also told Tes last year that they were pausing MAT expansion plans due to the financial issues they were facing.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment
