ATL comment on Sutton Trust report on academy chains

“This report confirms the Government’s own recent evidence* that in nine of the 20 larger chains, pupils made significantly below average progress. It also shows that only ten of the 100 larger local authorities (LA’s) performed as badly.

“The most important result is that two of the three ‘successful’ chains and 12 of the ‘successful’ LA’s are London based, where much of their success is down to the collaboration of schools in the London Challenge.

“Academisation is not the answer to schools problems and there is no robust evidence, overall, that academies nationally outperform other types of school. The Education and Adoption Bill is undemocratic in forcing academisation without consultation and excludes the school from selecting the sponsor that is most appropriate to them.”