The government is attempting to accelerate the academies programme by opening up the scheme to all schools in England.
Urmston Grammar School in Trafford and Audenshaw School in Tameside were amongst 32 schools nationwide who took up the offer by the coalition government to convert to academy status over the summer.
However the scheme was initially seen as a failure as the take up was low.
Critics said that coalition’s programme would primarily benefit schools in privileged areas, where outstanding schools tend to be located.
The government is now inviting all primaries and secondaries to seek academy status – providing they team up with a school classed as outstanding by Ofsted.Good schools with outstanding features will also be automatically eligible to apply, as outstanding schools are now.
Manchester Withington’s Lib Dem MP was one of six rebel backbenchers who voted against the schools academy bill in the House of Commons when it was voted on in the summer.
Academies have greater freedoms and are outside of local authority control.They also gain access to funds which would previously have been pooled at local authority level for area-wide services such as special needs provision.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, the largest teachers’ union, said;
“The academies project is quite obviously in total disarray. The various announcements and mixed messages coming from Michael Gove about who can and cannot apply for Academy status is both bewildering and of great concern. If the Government has no clear idea of how schools can convert to academy status then how on earth can the public, governors or parents have any confidence in the programme?