6th April 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
The government has announced plans to force all state schools in England to become academies. Pointing to the fact that academies work independently from local authorities, the government said that it would give them greater autonomy in their pursuit of raising standards. They also announced their intention to scrap parent governors, meaning that decisions would now rest with school authorities alone. The plans have been met with alarm from schools and teaching unions, who say that the plans would be a disaster for students and local democracy.
The department for education said that many pupils are already benefiting from the academies programme, and that the plans were intended to ensure that all students could benefit from giving schools greater autonomy. The said that schools know their pupils best, and that decisions should lie with them as to how to run their schools in order to help pupils fulfil their potential. They warned that parent governors did not have the requisite skills to help in the running of schools, and announced plans to scrap parental involvement.
The National Union of Teachers is staging rallies across the country to protest against the plans, which are unpopular with schools and parents. They said that there was no evidence that academies get better results, and expressed alarm that the plans are being pushed ahead without support from schools or parents. Just a few days after the announcement was made, two petitions to the government against the plans have reached over 100,000 signatures. Labour has said that they stand with schools in opposing the changes, saying that the reforms were costly, unnecessary, and opposed by schools, teachers and parents.