Reinforcing the schools revolution

There is extraordinary news today, suggesting that the Academies revolution is continuing apace. What was a trickle under the Labour years is turning into a flood. This time last year just 1 in 16 state secondaries had ‘Academy’ status: that is, operationally independent within the state sector. Now, it is 1 in 6. By Christmas, it should be 1 in 3. And by the next election, the majority of state secondary schools in Britain — about 1,600 — should have turned into Academies. Had Gove suggested such an expansion before the election, he would have been laughed at. The last time the Conservatives sought to give state schools independence was under Kenneth Baker, when just 50 availed themselves of such freedoms in three years. Now, freedom appears to be contagious. As I wrote last year, the teaching unions first sought to intimidate the first few converting Academies, bombarding head teachers with Freedom of Information requests and threats of judicial reviews. But now the unions have too many targets. Gove has approved 357 schools, with 473 applications being processed. And remember that Blair’s target was 200.

This matters because, in Britain, the fastest way to improve a school is to liberate it from the control of incompetent local authorities. This was demonstrated by Labour’s City Academy project. Whenever a state school was taken over by an independent provider — such as the Harris Federation or Absolute Return for Kids — its results would skyrocket. Harris Academies’ results, which I blogged about recently, are a case in point: look at the table at the end of this blog. It destroys the old lie that it takes a generation to turn around a school. If teachers are given the power to teach, to set the curriculum, to pay staff what they like and (yes) to sack whom they like, then the results are extraordinary and immediate. Britain’s schools have the talent, resources and the determination. They just need the freedom.

Crucially, this is not Gove’s doing. He simply made the offer of independence. Teachers are doing the rest, and the trajectory of reform is fuelled only by their energy — and behind each of these statistics is the decision to confront the hostile unions, and take a leap into the dark. Gove is simply making it easier for schools who choose to make the leap. The less political background noise, the better for all concerned. With local authorities squeezed out of the picture, priorities change. More money can be spent on tuition, and less on HD-ready whiteboards. As money follows the pupils, the interests of the school are realigned to those of pupil. The unions, managers, bureaucracies and Local Education Authorities find they are surplus to requirements.

The data suggests that a snowball effect is underway. The first, and hardest steps for Academies were taken under Labour by Tony Blair and the architect of City Academies, Lord Adonis. But he had to fight, sometimes in the High Court, for each school because the approval process was so slow under the Labour legislation. Now that approval is near-automatic we see some areas, like the London Borough of Southwark, hitting a tipping point where most schools are already independent Academies. Spontaneous school chains are emerging, as successful secondaries seek to take over failing primaries. Thus competent, successful school management is spreading. There is now every chance that, at long last, sink schools will slide towards deserved extinction.

Gove should now build on his success. The state schools converted into independent Academies need to be joined by new ‘free schools’, adding capacity to the system. The Spectator’s Toby Young has been a pioneer with his West London Free School, which opens its doors in September. But as those who follow his column know, the bureaucratic obstacles to such providers remain formidably high. In ruling that schools should not be able to run at a profit, Gove turned down the chance to kick start an education industry. There is still time to change his mind, and coax our world-leading private schools into a new state education market. Right now, haranguing private schools to be more socially responsible and take over state secondaries does not work. Plenty of private schools like their current setup: huge fees, very limited competition, huge waiting lists. Why choose this for the riskier life of an expanding enterprise? For the latter, you need schools that operate as businesses. Businesses expand. As the Swedish experience shows, the profit motive is the surest guarantor that successful schools expand at the fastest possible rate, reaching the neighbourhoods which need them most.

Worryingly, there is still little sign of progress on planning reform. This is crucial. The Swedish system only succeeded because planning permission was granted by a central licensing body. Councils will use any excuse to blackball a new, rival school. Planning is an issue which is split between all too many government departments, in a way that may yet prove fatal to hopes for new schools. No10 must use its authority to demand that all objections are blocked. The need to provide our children with better schools is little short of a national emergency. It should trump other considerations.

Finally, the law suits. When Gordon Brown was retreating, he cleverly shoveled power to the left-leaning judiciary — and disguised it under names like the ‘Equalities Act’. As a result, almost everything this government does, from the Budget downwards, can be subject to a judicial review. The teaching unions know they are facing an existential crisis. If Gove’s trajectory continues, they will have lost control of English state education within four years. They will sue, having been given weapons to do so by the last Labour government. The political landscape remains strewn with legalistic landmines.

David Cameron is on the cusp of making history. He might very well be the Prime Minister who ended the national scandal of sink schools, and reversed a decline which started with Crosland’s war on Grammars in 1965. In politics, success, as well as failure, can be unexpected. But when it comes, it should be reinforced.