Role of Academies

Imagine you are in charge of a school and you have the ability to change the terms and conditions of employment. You think you can keep your staff whatever you do, so do you make things worse for them so you can give more to the children? Do you give the staff a greater reward on the basis that you could get more out of them for the sake of the children?

Academies were created to take failing schools out of local authority control. If you have the ability to increase your income you just might be take up better terms and conditions if they are offered by an academy. The academy may also be able to put more educational resources into the school as well if they get the right sponsorship. The role of academies has changed and it now looks like successful schools are looking to be even more successful as they break away from local authority control.

This week teachers at Clitheroe Grammar went on strike over plans to convert it to an academy. There is no threat of change to the terms and conditions of the present staff which means that the difference could be in the school's ability to raise its own sponsorship or the terms and conditions will change for new employees. I don't think they will fail to attract excellent candidates even if conditions worsened, so my guess is that they will worsen. As an employer why would you offer more money when you could offer less?

It looks like terms and conditions will worsen with academies. I have questions about the role of sponsorship too. I had issues with the role of academies when they were looking to support failing schools. I have even more questions now that they support successful schools.

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