Academisation proceeding only at a trickle, in some regions of England

The academisation of schools appears to be going at a snail’s pace in some regions of England, new analysis of current Department for Education regional director decision-making shows.

Of the nine DfE regions, six have seen only single-digit numbers of schools applying to academise, among decisions being considered at a new round of regional board meetings, which have been taking place in the second half of this month.

Three other regions have seen a total of 52 applications between them, among the decisions being considered by the boards this month – the first to take place in this format since the Labour government was elected. However, the overall pace of academisation remains relatively slow: it would take 20 years to reach a fully academised system, based on the trend of the last two years, this piece shows below.

The detail

For this analysis, Education Uncovered looked at recently-published agenda papers for the DfE’s regional advisory boards, which make recommendations in private to ministers on the academisation of schools. These latest meetings have been taking place over the past two weeks.