National Audit Office on academies – NUT reaction

23 February 2007

Commenting on the report of the National Audit Office on academies, Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the NUT, Britain’s biggest teachers’ organisation, said:

“Predictably the uncomfortable details hidden behind the hype of the National Audit Office report are ignored by the Government.

“While academies achieve better results than Fresh Start schools, the results are not as good as those of local authority schools covered by Excellence in Cities. The NAO report is no place to turn for an independent analysis of whether a Government policy is raising educational standards

“The Chief Inspector’s annual report was lukewarm on academies, identifying difficulties with staff recruitment, retention and the inexperience of staff.  It also pointed to the uneven performance of the academies rather than suggesting that all was well in the garden.

“The high costs and cost over-runs of the academies with no end time for their start up funding are not available for local authority schools and are ignored by the Government.

“Even Edward Leigh MP acknowledges that big risks and challenges arising from this ‘huge, costly programme’.

“The recommendations made by the NAO describe a direction of travel towards returning academies to the local authority family of schools. This is a message the Education Secretary should not ignore.”