The white paper earlier this year confirmed the government’s intention that all schools should be part of multi-academy trusts (MATS) by 2030. However, four education secretaries later, the priorities for DfE are now less certain. In the midst of this turbulence, the Schools Bill now appears to have been shelved, and with it the government’s plan to tidy up the fragmented school system.
In the meantime, we have long argued that we need a strong understanding of MAT performance and how we measure it, as research has shown that academisation is not a silver bullet for improving standards. In particular, we need a better understanding of which MATs are most effective, and what it is that those MATs do which sets them apart from the rest.
