ATL comment on Education Select Committee report into multi-academy trusts (MATs)

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “The Government must heed the Select Committee’s warnings. Too many MATs have grown too quickly and have proved themselves unable to provide effective and timely support to their schools. The Department for Education’s (DfE’s) own research shows that over half the MATs under, or seriously underperform at GCSE level.

“The Government does not collect adequate information about the quality of MATs as it does not allow Ofsted to inspect them. Nor does the Government have the necessary information about how MATs are spending tax payers’ money.

“The current situation is untenable. The Government needs to exercise proper control of MATs and the Select Committees recommendation that high-performing local authorities should be able to set up MATs is entirely sensible, necessary and welcome.

“Ministers say that MATs are an ‘evolving system’. But that is no solution for the pupils whose education is being harmed by inadequate MATs.”