Effectiveness of Britian’s Academy schools in doubt

OECD questions if the move to a system of independent institutions is working Many of the new independent public schools in Britain are falling short of expectations, according to a London report. The recently published report by the Academies Commission said “greater independence and freedom (for schools) are not sufficient in themselves to secure improvement”. Many academies, the British version of independent schools, were found to be manipulating student admissions to bolster their market position. This was leading to social segregation, which was “a problem for equality of opportunity and to system improvement”, according to the report. The report said the British school system was already one of the most socially segregated in the OECD. Socially advantaged pupils were being concentrated in the best schools while disadvantaged children were being over-represented in poorer-quality schools. Increasing competition, high-stakes accountability and manipulation of the admissions system provoked concerns that selective admissions could become prevalent. Andreas Schleicher, deputy director for education and a special adviser on education policy to the OECD's secretary-general, said that the world would be watching the future of the Academy program closely. The Academy system is the first where state-funded independent schools are expected to collaborate. Schleicher was sceptical about the extent of collaboration possible in a system of autonomous schools, noting that many academies had not honoured their commitments to support local schools which were struggling. He said that ensuring collaboration was harder in competitive systems because the more autonomy schools had, the harder it was for governments to intervene. The new report showed that there had been a radical change in England’s education system in the last few years with the conversion of many traditional state schools to Academy schools. Academies are independent, state-funded schools which have much more freedom than traditional schools. They are free to manage their own budget, appoint staff and determine pay and conditions, determine their own governance structures and set their own admissions criteria and curriculum.