Greens call for U-turn on Academies scheme

“Power in education should go to schools, teachers and parents – not sponsors”





The Green Party today publicly condemned proposals to offer all schools an option of Academy status.



Rachel Fryer, the Greens’ education spokesperson, said “There is clear evidence that Academies do not improve performance and in some cases make it worse.



“The Green Party has always spoken in favour of greater freedom for the school to decide how it is run and the school curriculum. However this does not and must not mean putting the running of the school into the hands of a private sponsor who may know nothing or very little about education, and taking the power away from parents and teachers who have little representation on the governing body at an Academy.



“Academies can see principals paid in excess of £120,000 whilst there is a high turnover of valued and committed staff lower down the pay scale as they are invited to reapply for their jobs on different pay scales.



“Time and again Greens and others have asked why the freedoms and funding attached to Academies cannot be given without the strings of creeping privatisation and millionaire sponsors attached. Yet no answer is given.”



Ms Fryer, who is also one of the Green Party’s city councillors in Brighton and Hove, concluded:



“With the proposals of up to 25% cuts across local authorities, inevitably affecting front-line staff including teachers, we could be facing the situation of having new buildings without the teachers to go in them. Let’s give the money directly to schools through greater investment and through bringing back BSF (Building Schools for the Future) money, trusting schools and teachers to know the best way to spend money to improve education.