New powers for intervention in failing schools approved by Parliament

New powers that will allow quicker intervention in schools deemed as failing or coasting have been approved by Parliament.

Under the Education and Adoption Bill, the government will be able to intervene in schools that do not meet its standards of excellence. This intervention will lead to more local authority run schools being converted into academies, which the government claims will empower schools to spread excellence by ‘giving power and responsibility to teachers on the front line’.

Measures in the Bill also promise to remove bureaucracy and make it easier for sponsors to offer support to underperforming schools.

The government claims that this passage of the Bill represents a ‘major milestone’ in the government’s drive to ‘spread educational excellence’. However, its plans for increased academisation have faced opposition from teaching unions, who warn there is no solid proof that turning schools into academies will help to improve standards.

A large point of contention around the Bill has been focussed on the definition of ‘coasting’, which many have found complicated. As per the Bill, schools will be classed as coasting if pupils fail to make sufficient progress, or fail to achieve government imposed standards, consistently over a three year period.

From this year schools will be assessed using the new Progress 8 measure, with schools being deemed as coasting if fewer than 60 per cent fall below a ‘median level of expected progress’.

Schools that are already academies will not be exempt from government intervention, as those deemed as failing or coasting could face being forcibly transferred to new sponsors.

The bill will now receive royal assent and come into force as soon as possible, the Department for Education has said.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “No child should have to spend one day more than necessary in an underperforming school and as an urgent matter of social justice we are determined to spread educational excellence to every corner of the country.

“The measures in the Education and Adoption Bill will improve the life chances of thousands of children in communities across England.

“The Bill will raise standards in schools by allowing us to tackle failure from day one, ensuring swift action is taken wherever a school is not providing the high standards of education rightly expected by parents.”