the way back - nervous breakdown and all that

More articles questioning the Multi Academy Trust (MAT) approach that had been so lauded by the Conservatives have been sent to me this past week. They make for very interesting reading for those of us opposed to academisation. Last week the DfE announced the scrapping of the trust capacity fund, trust establishment and growth fund and academy conversion grants. There is talk of legislation to be put into place to make academies follow the national curriculum, and importantly to return to cooperating more closely with councils.   Jack Dyson’s article in SchoolWeek (07.11.24) comments that academy trusts with “top-down management cultures” are under scrutiny, with the new government seeking “to curtail the freedoms of the academies sector.”   This week, Sir Kevin Collins (a non-executive director at the DfE) has voiced his opinion on the flaws of the MAT system. He is concerned about teachers’ well-being and agency. Referring to the growth of a “narrow compliance culture”, he ...

By all accounts, this week has seen positive steps as far as Labour's position on education goes.   Firstly, on employees' welfare, Rachel Reeves’ budget speech included an affirmation that it was “the government’s plans to boost workers’ rights” and that, “our plan will protect working people from unfair dismissal, safeguard them from bullying in the workplace, and improve their access to paternity and maternity leave.”   Bullying, discrimination, harassment, and victimisation are all too common in the workplace. Unfortunately, protection from these for staff in education has been limited. We will have to see how committed the government will be in combatting these hefty issues which have affected so many of our lives, and continue to do so. But it is a powerful statement and we should make sure the government keeps its promises.    Secondly, after (in recent years) taking a fairly non-committal position on academies, it would appear that the new Labour go...