Balls announces Brownite reforms of Labour's flagship academy programme
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
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A shake-up of Tony Blair's academies programme has been unveiled - allowing universities and colleges to run them without having to fork out the £2m sponsorship fee.
In his first Commons statement since taking office, the new Secretary for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, also announced moves to bring them back under closer state scrutiny.
He told MPs: "The test of whether an organisation can be a potential sponsor should not be its bank balance but whether it can demonstrate leadership, innovation and commitment to act in the public interest."
His announcement will delight rebel Labour MPs and teachers' leaders. They will see it as a sign that the Brown administration wants to shed the image of academies being run by unaccountable private companies - some of whom were caught up in the cash-for-honours investigation.
It will also take some wind out of the sails of the Conservative leader, David Cameron. One of his main education proposals has been a call to waive sponsors' fees for academies and to boost the programme.
The shake-up was one of a series of announcements made to MPs yesterday that also included the setting up of an inquiry into how maths is taught in primary schools.
Mr Balls did indicate he wanted to see an acceleration in the academies programme beyond the target of 400 imposed by Mr Blair. However, he went on to call for a shift of emphasis in sponsorship with every university in the country running at least one.
"So, from today I am abolishing the current requirement for universities and high-performing schools and colleges to provide £2m before they can sponsor an academy," he said. "Many universities are already engaged with academies. I now want every university to be actively engaged."
Chris Waterman, chief executive of Confed, the organisation representing local authorities' children's services, described Mr Balls' statement as "an excellent first move".
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, added: "I welcome Ed Balls' statement giving local authorities a greater say in the planning of academies. This is a direction of travel of which I thoroughly approve."
Other measures announced include setting up a primary and early-years maths teaching inquiry to be headed by Sir Peter Williams, chair of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education.
And Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, will be asked to monitor schools more closely for disruptive behaviour.
Finally, schools will be given an extra £150m to help them track pupils' progress - in particular making sure they take steps towards stretching gifted pupils.
Mr Balls made it clear that he would be putting "standards not structure" forward as his first priority. He was repeating a mantra issued by New Labour when it first came to office in 1997 but ditched after Mr Blair launched the academies programme.
