Labour truly focusing on within-school improvement, rather than changes in structures, Education Uncovered hears

DfE director Tim Coulson seems to underline how Labour’s approach differs from that of the Conservatives. Meanwhile, on the south coast, protracted transfers of schools controlled by closing academy chain illustrate how structural changes can leave institutions in limbo.

How deep is the change in approach to the academisation of schools we have seen since Labour came to power?

It seems an interesting question, which I was asked again in recent days. For, although this government had made changes including stopping automatic forced academisation of schools which fail Ofsted inspections, it also has on occasion seemed quite close to the non-maintained sector.

To put it another way, although the official position from Labour has been much more agnostic between academies and non-academies – we focus on “standards, not structures,” is the line – might ministers not end up pivoting back to a “we want all schools to academise” position as we saw under the Conservatives?

Well, tentative evidence that, in reality, the government is truly moving away from the Conservatives’ view that changing a school’s legal set-up is a panacea arrived via a source and Education Uncovered reader, who attended a Department for Education conference this month about its “RISE” – Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence - scheme. This, of course, sees advisers – often ironically perhaps, drawn from the leadership of academy chains – sent in to support schools which have had adverse inspections, rather than transferring them legally to an incoming academy trust.