Most schools are now being turned into Academies, 'place of learning in a specific field', with the emphasis being on raising standards, is a government initiative to tackle our failing education system,
Academies benefit from greater freedoms to innovate and raise standards. These include:
[Department of, Education 2013]
- freedom from local authority control;
- the ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff;
- freedoms around the delivery of the curriculum; and
- the ability to change the lengths of terms and school days.
[Department of, Education 2013]
With these four broad topics the foundations of our modern education system, it is a worrying sign. To think that all the problems in our failing education system can be solved by these simple steps, is a sign of the failing of education initiatives. It is a worrying sign also that the above steps are to be left in the hands of actual businesses in some cases,
'Sponsors; Some academies, generally those set up to replace underperforming schools, will have a sponsor. Sponsors come from a wide range of backgrounds including successful schools, businesses, universities, charities and faith bodies. Sponsors are held accountable for the improving the performance of their schools. They do this by challenging traditional thinking on how schools are run and what they should be like for students. They seek to make a complete break with cultures of low aspiration and achievement. The sponsor’s vision and leadership are vital to each project.' [Department of Education,2013]