CITY ACADEMIES IN BRITAIN

By
Pragnya Jayachandra - 34
Swati Mehra - 54
Rohit Walimbe - 89
City Academies in Britain – Outline
• Big challenge : to revive Government-run
secondary schools
• Worryingly low educational standards
• in gap between state and private schools
• Drop-outs from state schools by 1/3rd

• Hence, the City Academy Policy - 2000

40 % of the students could not cope with the
education standards, the reasons being:
• Absence of Government monitoring for a long
time, and
• Inadequately trained teachers; prominently.

• Result:
Parents were forced to send their kids to either:
• Private schools, or
• Better performing state schools
 State Vs Private Schools wrt Performance

State-run Schools (had 92% of total school-going

children)
• At least 60-75 % couldn’t get even 5 GCSE passes

Private Schools (had just 8% of total school-going

children)
• 51.2% of those appeared – A grade (15.8% was
the national avg) , 2000
• Bagged > 50% of A-Grades in Physics
 Why this difference ?
• Major reason – Money
State schools – limited funds from LEAs
Private schools –
• spent 2.3 times more/student,
• Deployed twice as no. of teachers,
• fees even during recession-as much as 50%
( Avg annual fees – £7000 - £8000, avg annual
income - £21845 )
 What are these City Academies?

independent of LEAs
City Academy- a
publicly funded secondary school , private sponsorship
Britain

• roughly equivalent to the American Charter School,

• initiated in 2000 and known as ‘city academies’ which later
became just ‘academies’ by an amendment in the education
Act 2002
 Objectives of these Academies
• To bridge the gap between private and state
schools by breaking the monopoly of LEAs,
• To overcome drain from state schools,
• To create centres of excellence in deprived areas,
"What we need to do is to
improve it for everybody, not
just for the high fliers but for
those at the bottom of the heap
as well."

-UK Govt.
 CITY ACADEMIES
• ‘A new and better way of delivering education’
- Tony Blair
Funding:
1/5th – Church, Corporates and Trusts;
Rest – by the State ( incl. running Costs )
• Innovative and creative,
• Private sponsors can also decide the structure of
Management,
• Responsible for overall development in education
sectors.
The Church of England, Businesses
and an Education Services Company
were among the first sponsors of the
government's new "city academies",
intended to replace failing inner-city
comprehensives.
 STRATEGY ADOPTED
• Encourage Private partnership along with Govt
efforts,
• Performance Related Pay,
• £30 Million package for training,
• £ 5000 bonus for teachers,
• Mandatory for teachers to spend first 3 years
in a state school,
 STRATEGY ADOPTED
• of £ 123 / student in addition to the existing grant,
• 10% of the students can be chosen for specializations,
as the Academies wish to,
• Also, get rid of below average and disruptive students,
• To provide Broad, Balanced and Creative Curriculum.

Focus on Each Child

- Tony Blair
 VOICES OF DISSONANCE
• Local Govt. objected as they thought that it was a
deliberate attempt to suspect involvement of LEA,
• Some said ‘new sponsors and fancy names’ will not
change the reality that fresh schools need brilliant
leadership to handle disruptive youngsters,
• Some critics doubted the ability with large students,
• Some parents opposed to spending money on
Academies with no direct benefit to their wards,
• Govt intervention would increase paper work,
 But….
• In spite of being faced by these hurdles, the
British Government went ahead with the
Academies , as it felt that there was no other
alternative, other than a Private – Public
Partnership.
 STAFFING PROBLEMS
• High house prices made it hard for schools to
attract and keep teachers - and many schools
depended on temporary and overseas staff.

• The large number of schools in the capital,

and mobility across boundaries, also created
a sharper divide between the most and least
desirable schools - creating many "sink"
schools.
 CRITICISM
• A move towards privatization of education ‘by back door’,
• The Select Committee was concerned that the promising
results achieved by some academies may be due to
increased exclusions of harder-to-teach pupils e.g.
2 Middelesbrough academies had expelled 61 pupils,
compared to just 15 from all other secondary schools,
• Criticized for handing-over schools to private sector
entrepreneurs, who in many cases have no experience in
the Education Sector,
• Critics contend that cost of a new building is significantly
more the costs required to build a new local authority
school.
 "Despite the Government's spin, the report
clearly states that there is insufficient
evidence that academies are a model for
school improvement. It is ‘extraordinary’
that the proportion of pupils from socially
deprived backgrounds is declining at a
faster rate than other schools.”

- Christine Blower, the National Union

of Teachers' acting General Secretary
 Finally….
• The tendency to expel badly performing pupils does
not serve the main purpose. Alternatives have to be
sought after, like for e.g. Counseling sessions,
Scholarships, etc,
• ‘Visiting Faculty’ from good Private Schools can be
invited at times,
• Private-public partnerships could help to break
down the class system and end the "polarisation" of
society.
• By addressing some major criticisms, City Academics
have the potential to lead in the Educational Sector.
 ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
• http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/Ian-Luder/4
y7fd2iaw7.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_(English_school)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/301966
7.stm
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/110646
3.stm
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/677996
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• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/231105
7.stm