Academies haven’t raised pupil achievement – there’s no need for them to have privileges that other schools do not

By Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham University

The UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is planning to cut some of the freedoms academy schools currently enjoy in England to refocus on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Critics say academies are hugely successful but my research has shown there are better ways to make education fairer.

The academies programme was introduced in England in 2002 by the then Labour government as a way to improve failing schools. These schools were given additional initial funding, as well as recurrent, per-pupil funding. They had freedom from local council control and from the national…

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