Education bill to close ‘loopholes’ blocking academies expansion
The Guardian | Richard Adams Education editor & Frances Perraudin | 3 June 2015
The education secretary, Nicky Morgan, has vowed to “sweep away bureaucratic and legal loopholes” obstructing the takeover of as many as 1,000 struggling local authority schools in England and their rapid conversion into academies.
The education bill published on Wednesday details how council-maintained schools rated as inadequate by Ofsted will have their legal options curtailed or removed, enabling the Department for Education (DfE) to more quickly replace their management and impose sponsors.
But the government has held back on its policy announced during the general election campaign to parachute new leadership into “coasting” schools, with the bill proposing plans to be subject to consultation over the summer.
“Today’s landmark bill will allow the best education experts to intervene in poor schools from the first day we spot failure. It will sweep away the bureaucratic and legal loopholes previously exploited by those who put ideological objections above the best interests of children,” Morgan said.
