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Education and Adoption Bill – What’s Changed Since Summer?

The much talked about government’s Education and Adoption Bill, which is currently at the House of Lords report stage in Parliament, is principally about speeding things up. On the adoption side, it’s going to make it possible for local authorities to have their adoption services carried out by an outside agency or even another local […]

Callum Fauser
by Callum Fauser
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The much talked about government’s Education and Adoption Bill, which is currently at the House of Lords report stage in Parliament, is principally about speeding things up.

On the adoption side, it’s going to make it possible for local authorities to have their adoption services carried out by an outside agency or even another local authority on their behalf – the aim being to make adoption services bigger in scale and more efficient.

So far as schools are concerned, the measures contained in the Bill amend the existing Academies Act 2010, so that the government is able to intervene in cases where schools are failing or ‘coasting’ more swiftly. The Bill also aims to make the process of converting to Academy status – whether a school has chosen to do so voluntarily or otherwise – faster than before.

The Bill has, however, seen a few tweaks and amendments over the last few months, some of which may well spell changes to what was originally proposed…

Academies can free schools can be coasting too

One of the biggest changes to be ushered in by the Bill is to introduce a new category under which schools will be eligible for conversion – that of ‘coasting’. In June this year, Nicky Morgan defined this as meaning primaries with below 85% of pupils reaching secondary-ready standard in reading, writing and maths over three years, and secondaries with less than 60% of pupils achieving five good GSCE grades (changing to Progress 8 as of 2016).

Initially, this ‘coasting’ definition only applied to maintained schools, not academies. However, following criticism from some quarters that this would result in a two-tier system, Morgan has this week issued a ministerial statement, putting forward an amendment that would see this apply to all schools, be they local authority-run, academies or free schools.

The Bill’s move for speed seems to have met some resistance, however. Labour’s education spokesman in the House of Lords, Mike Watson, tabled an amendment that would require a consultation to be held when a school is issued with an Academy order. The consultation would have to include the school’s teachers, governors, parents of children attending the school and the local authority, but could also include anyone else the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

Previously, such consultations were only required when a school’s governing body proposed converting to an academy, though the Education Secretary would have final say on on the terms of the consultation, including the minimum length of its duration. Once the consultation has ended, the Education would then have to ‘take into account’ its findings when deciding whether conversion would be appropriate.

The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Addington, meanwhile, tabled an amendment that would require the Education Secretary to publish a public document clearly stating the responsibilities and powers of the eight Regional Schools Commissioners – who at the moment ‘monitor the performance of the academies in their area’ – and what their role will be in implementing Education and Adoption Bill’s aims.

The Bill’s report stage will continue in the House of Lords on December 16th; further information on its passage through Parliament can be found here.

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