Schools applying to become academies will struggle to cope, unions claim
Jul 14 2010 by Edward Chadwick, Birmingham Post
Birmingham schools which decide to become academies will struggle to cope with red tape, unions have warned.
More than 22 city primaries and comprehensives are considering a deal with the Government to opt out of local control in return for extra funding.
They would be allowed to set their own curriculum, staff salaries and determine the length of terms and school days.
But at a meeting arranged by the Alliance Against Birmingham Academies (AABA), governors and union officials warned governors lack the expertise to run what would become small businesses.
Richard Hatcher, vice chairman of the alliance, said that most governing bodies would struggle to effectively run human resources operations or comply with complex health and safety laws.
“The net benefit to them will be about four per cent and I would urge all these schools to seriously consider whether they think they could but all that expertise for what amounts to a small amount of cash,” he told the meeting in Birmingham’s council house on Tuesday night.
“What happens in an academy when the heating breaks down?
“The council won’t come running with space heaters like they do now and children will be left to shiver because they won’t have shared resources available to them.”
The new Education Secretary Michael Gove has said he will allow schools rated “outstanding” by Oftsed to automatically become academies and will listen to applications from others.
They are being offered “bribes” of £25,000 in cash plus an offer to pay off debts of up to £100,000 in return, said Anne Brimacombe of the NASUWT.
But teachers and governors told the meeting that they did not believe the cash incentives were worth the extra burden of responsibility that would be placed on management.
Stuart Horsfield, chairman of governors at Turves Green Boys’ School, said: “I’m not an expert in setting salaries and having the power to do that horrifies me.
“Governors don’t want that extra responsibility.”
David Ambler, secretary of the Birmingham branch of teaching union ATL, said that academies paved the way for a return to schools selecting the best pupils.
“Since Walsall Academy opened in Bloxwich, half the local kids can’t get in and now have to take two buses to Brownhills because the management are only interested in high achievers,” he said.
“We don’t want out schools to return to that sort of cherry picking.”
