Response to the Sutton Trust report showing that three quarters of academy chains have coasting schools

Tristram Hunt MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, responding to the Sutton Trust report showing that three quarters of academy chains have coasting schools, said:

“David Cameron’s first Education Bill of this parliament does not contain a single concrete measure for tackling underperformance in academy schools, despite the fact that more than half of all secondary schools are academies.

“The Tories think that the way to turn around underperforming schools is to simply turn them into academies and then walk away. They have no plan for those academies that are struggling, leaving them to fail or ‘coast’ and letting down the children who attend them.

“Labour understands that it takes more than this to drive up standards in our school system. We need a strong focus on raising the quality of classroom teaching and support for head teachers, greater collaboration between schools at a local level, and robust local oversight of schools to stop underperformance going unnoticed and unchallenged.”

Tristram Hunt isn't very popular at all but he makes some excellent points. Academies have got to have good local oversight or not much can be done when they start failing other than give them bad Ofsted reports - which they can ignore if they so wish. Reintroducing some local 'oversight' or 'control' could reverse academisation somewhat but it really is needed.