History of academisation
The academisation programme began under the Labour government, which used it to target struggling schools in more deprived areas.
Academisation was used to give schools more control over their finances and their curriculum. It broke the link between schools and local authorities, with academies receiving their funding directly from central government instead of through a local council.
At the time of the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government, the academisation programme went into overdrive. For the first time, schools that were judged ‘outstanding’ were given the opportunity to sever ties with the local authority and convert to academy status independently.
This was the birth of the ‘academy conversion’ model. The number of academy sponsorships also increased dramatically under the coalition and subsequent Conservative governments. Now, more than three quarters of secondary schools and a quarter of primary schools are academies.
Forced academisation
At present, academisation shows no signs of slowing down and some experts believe that full academisation is all but assured in the not too distant future.
Figures from The Education Company (2019) show that there are currently 1,170 Multi Academy Trusts in England that manage at least two schools. 29 MATs have 26 or more schools, 85 have between 12-25 schools and 259 have 6-11 schools. The majority of MATs – 598– have five or fewer schools. Source.
In addition to rampant organic growth, the Government does, in some instances, have the power to force academisation. The Education and Adoption Act gives the Department for Education the power to issue mandatory academisation orders to schools that are ‘coasting,’ as well as those that are really struggling.
This means that any local authority schools that are not improving every year run the risk of being forced into an academy sponsorship deal. And as any education leader will tell you, consistently improving standards is no easy feat.
Academisation under a Labour government
In 2024, a Labour government came into power after 14 years of Conservative leadership. This political shift raises questions about the impact on the Conservative pledge to make every school an academy by 2030.
We spoke with Peter Doyle, Policy Manager at the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), who shared his insights. According to Peter, the academisation process will continue under the new government but with less emphasis than under the Conservatives. Notably, the pledge to convert all schools to academies by 2030 was not included in the Labour manifesto. Nevertheless, Peter predicts that more schools will join academies, as this trend is expected to persist in the current climate.
For more of Peter Doyle’s predictions and insights on the education sector under a Labour government, read our full article here.
Sponsored academy model
The original and still the most common way for a school to become an academy is the sponsorship route. Schools that are struggling (or ‘coasting’) can be issued with an academy order that forces them to make the change. They will have to find or be allocated a sponsor to help them through the changes.
Formal organisations, called Multi Academy Trusts (MATs), are the government’s preferred structure of collaboration between schools. A MAT is essentially a chain of academies headed up by one central office. The chains can differ in size quite dramatically. It could be a group of three local primary schools collaborating together or eighty primary and secondary schools operating across an entire region.
Within each MAT, academies are governed by a trust and a board of directors and funding for each academy is passed down through the MAT.
Academy sponsors come in different shapes and sizes as well. As well as universities and other educational foundations, a sponsor may be a charity, a philanthropist, a faith group, a business or an entrepreneur.
A list of contact details for approved academy sponsors can be found here.
Benefits of the academy sponsor model
Although having an academisation order slapped on your school might not elicit the warmest of feelings, there are a number of advantages with linking up to a MAT or another experienced sponsor organisation.
Sponsored schools get access to shared expertise and resources that would previously have been unavailable.
- Office operations can be streamlined for greater efficiency.
- Academy chains can share their best teachers between the schools, while other sponsors like universities and businesses can provide special guest lecturers.
- Many schools that go down the sponsorship route are struggling financially. The sponsor model usually gives schools access to highly experienced school business managers that can help an academy escape the deepest of deficits.
- The sponsorship route is cheaper and easier than converting independently, particularly when it comes to matters such as legal costs.
How to become a multi-academy trust
In this video, Nathan Bates of De Curci Trust shares the story of how a group of schools partnered together to form a Trust. Nathan discusses their approach to partnerships and growth, highlighting the advantages of becoming a Trust, including cost savings, enhanced services, and opportunities for substantial capital investments across the schools.
To see the full summary of our recent finance panel discussion, click here.
Academy conversion model
It is possible for all schools – primary and secondary – to become academies under the converter model. Priority is given to ‘outstanding’ and other high performing schools.
In the absence of a conversion order, these schools are under no obligation to become academies. It is ultimately up to the governing body to make the decision to convert, and it is their responsibility to get the backing of the community. There are lots of advantages to converting, but in such a diverse schooling system there are often quite individual contextual issues that governors and headteachers need to consider.
Converter academies usually organise into a single academy trust, with no other schools involved in the governance. The academy must establish a trust and agree a funding deal with the Department for Education. The overall structure is similar to a maintained school, but the local authority is replaced by ‘members,’ who would be akin to shareholders in a business environment.
Converter academies may also wish to set up their own MATs. This represents a lot more work, particularly if you are sponsoring another school while simultaneously completing your own conversion.
What are the advantages of academy conversion?
- Increased freedom to spend budget as you see fit
- More flexibility over curriculum and other important classroom decisions.
- More scope to procure services, for example using an external payroll provider instead of local authority services.
- Successful academy converters are often viewed favourably by parents and teachers, so academies can usually fill classrooms with students as well as the best education professionals.
- Converter academies also have the opportunity to bring up standards at other nearby schools by forming a MAT.
