Thread by @Samfr

THREAD - Something of a milestone in England's education system today with more than half of kids now in academies.

Seemed like an opportunity to reflect on the policy (as someone heavily involved in it...

First thing to say is it's happened incredibly quickly. I wrote a paper 11 years ago arguing that all schools should be allowed to become academies which I think was the time anyone made this suggestion publicly. And here we are

That's lightening fast for a change of this scale

One thing this tells us is that not many people were invested in fighting for the status quo. Especially as the vast majority of academies converted by choice.

Worth remembering when people argue we should revert to that.

But has it worked? Well we don't know for sure and never will because there wasn't a proper evaluation. Schools did not covert in a random way so simply comparing groups of schools doesn't tell us much.

Lack of evaluation is a major failing in English education policy.

What can we say?

Have most academies dramatically improved/changed since converting? No

Have many got worse? No.

Have some academies, especially in very disadvantaged areas, totally changed the perception of what's possible? Yes, absolutely.

Why has that happened? Because some academy trusts decided to do things in a totally different way to how schools had traditionally been run.

Could this have happened without academies? Yes, but it didn't because the previous system didn't encourage innovation.

For me this justifies the policy by itself. The best academies - like Globe Academy where I was today - are as good as any schools in the world. The delegations I take round these schools are stunned by what's possible.

But...there's always a but....the policy hasn't really changed most schools now called academies. So what are the next set of challenges policymakers have to consider? (If they can ever get out of the Brexit shadow....)

First - there needs to be political clarity on the end goal. What do we want the system to look like at the end of the reform process? Since the 2016 white paper was binned by May we haven't had any direction of travel. This creates real uncertainty for school operators.

Secondly - we need far more investment in academy trust capacity. The early trusts like ARK benefited from significant investment that allowed them to think deeply about their educational model.

Too many trusts now are just paddling furiously to keep their heads above water.

Thirdly - we need to boost the various networks that are developing in the new education world that allow trusts to share with each other. And we have to incentivise them - financially or through accountability - to share IP.

Fourthly - we need smarter accountability (and the new Ofsted framework has helpful ideas here) to stop the minority of trusts that are gaming the system and not focusing on high quality education.

Lots more I could say but this thread has grown absurdly long. I really need to start blogging again!

/ ends