Schools should not be forced to become academies, NAHT says
Union NAHT has stated that schools should have to right to choose whether or not to convert to an academy.
This comes as the National Audit Office (NAO) casts doubt over the government’s plans to continue to force schools to become academies, despite there being no available sponsors in their area.
According to the NAHT, the lack of willing sponsors and the number of schools that have been forced to convert but are miles away from their sponsor schools underlines the problems associated with forced conversion.
The NAO report says that there are 242 sponsored academies that are more than 50 miles from their sponsor.
The NAHT goes on to say that academies “are an important part of a complex self-improving education system”, but the government is wrong to assert that they are the “panacea for poor performance”.
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