Posted by Both the BBC and the Guardian are reporting that every school in England will be forced to become an academy, under plans to be announced possibly as early as tomorrow in the aftermath of the budget. This would end more than a hundred years of provision on the part of local authorities. According to the BBC, ‘The proposals under consideration by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan owe much to a pamphlet by Policy Exchange, the Conservative-aligned think-tank, which proposes mass-converting the remaining local authority schools into academies.’
The Guardian is even more specific about the timetabling of this move and reasons for doing so. ‘Legislation to turn every school in England into an academy independent of local authority control will be unveiled in the budget on Wednesday. Draft leglislation, to be published within days, will begin the process of implementing a pledge made by David Cameron in his conference speech last autumn.’ The article suggests that ‘The move follows criticism of the government for going into stasis during the referendum campaign. Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, are keen to show that they are in charge of a “reforming” government’…..(and) ‘that the plans would be a key part of Osborne’s budget on Wednesday in order to start the process before officials are forced to shut down work because of the purdah ahead of the May elections and EU referendum.’
You can read the BBC News article by clicking on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35814215 and the Guardian article here: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/15/every-english-school-to-become-an-academy-ministers-to-announce
Socialist Educational Association 