Three quarters of academy chains contain 'coasting' schools, research suggests

A study by the Sutton Trust found that 44 per cent of academies analysed would be classed as ‘coasting’ under new government guidelines, with 26 out of the 44 academy chains including at least one ‘coasting’ school.

The report, ‘Chain Effects 2015: The impact of academy chains on low-income students’, suggests new chains should not be allowed to expand until they have a ‘track record of success’. It also calls for funding agreements with sponsors to be shortened from seven to five years, and demands that the government include a measure of progress for disadvantaged pupils within their ‘coasting’ definition.

Disadvantaged children were shown to have mixed success in academy chains. Pupils in the top performing academies outperformed the average in mainstream schools by 15 percentage points, but many were found to underperform in academies and achieve worse marks than the average for mainstream schools. The report questioned the academy model as a viable option for improving the prospects of disadvantaged pupils, claiming that evidence does not yet support the Department for Education’s claims that sponsored academies are transforming the performance of the most disadvantaged pupils and turning around the worst performing schools.

Report author Prof Becky Francis said: "There is very significant variation in outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, both between and within chains.

"Some chains continue to achieve impressive outcomes for their disadvantaged students against a range of measures, demonstrating the transformational impact on life chances that can be made.

"However, a larger group of low-performing chains are achieving results that are not improving and may be harming the prospects of their disadvantaged students."

Nansi Ellis, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “This report confirms the Government’s own recent evidence that in nine of the 20 larger chains, pupils made significantly below average progress. It also shows that only ten of the 100 larger local authorities (LA’s) performed as badly.

“The most important result is that two of the three ‘successful’ chains and 12 of the ‘successful’ LA’s are London based, where much of their success is down to the collaboration of schools in the London Challenge.

“Academisation is not the answer to schools problems and there is no robust evidence, overall, that academies nationally outperform other types of school. The Education and Adoption Bill is undemocratic in forcing academisation without consultation and excludes the school from selecting the sponsor that is most appropriate to them.”

The Midland Academies Trust released a statement in response to the report and acknowledged the shortcomings of disadvantaged pupils, it said: “We are aware of the achievement shortcomings for disadvantaged students within some parts of the trust for 2014, and have taken robust steps to overcome these, with some impact for 2015.”

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