Commenting on the latest report of the UCL Institute of
Education, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the
National Education Union, said:
“This astonishing report confirms what the NEU has been warning
about for some years.
“England now has one of the most socially stratified education
systems in the advanced economies and, the post-2010 academy and
other reforms have made this worse.
“We are now witnessing the predictable consequences of the
expansion of the academy programme from 2010.
“’s policy was aimed at
fracturing our schools system into competing units, as well as
undermining local authority influence and support networks.
“As this report notes, an ironic consequence of this has been the
emergence of a ‘more complex and less accountable form of
bureaucracy that lacks any local democratic mandate.’
“While genuine democratic oversight and accountability has been
removed from the system, other forms of centralised power have
grown.
“The large Multi Academy Trusts that promoted are shown not to
work.
“Ofsted and the accountability framework are shown to have a
negative impact on the school system and schools’ ability to
respond to the needs of all pupils.
“The concrete evidence presented in the report about the
correlation between Ofsted grades and the socio-economic
composition of schools shows that our inspection system is not
fit for purpose.
“It is not surprising, but no less shocking, to read that two
thirds of the teachers surveyed for this report thought that
‘inequalities between schools are becoming wider as a result of
current government policy.’
“A radical change of direction is required in order to develop a
schools system which puts the needs and aspirations of all
pupils, regardless of social background or circumstance at its
heart.
“The consensus of the last 30 years that market methods are the
way to improve education is broken. The Government needs to act.”
