Council-maintained schools in England continue to outperform academies in Ofsted ratings, according to research, prompting renewed calls for councils to be able to open their own schools.
Research conducted on behalf of the Local Government Association (LGA) found 93% of council-maintained schools were ranked “outstanding” or “good” by Ofsted as of 31 January 2023, compared with 87% of academies that have been graded since they were converted.
In 2022, council-maintained schools also outranked academies, with 92% rated “outstanding” or “good” by Ofsted in January and 85% of academies graded the same since they converted.
The study also found only 57% of academies that were already an academy in August 2018 managed to improve standards from “inadequate” or “requires improvement” to “good” or “outstanding”, compared with 73% of council-maintained schools.
The findings bring the longstanding dispute over what school leaders have called “forced academisation” into the spotlight, as the government announced ambitions for all schools to join multi-academy trusts (Mats) by 2030 as part of the main policy for school improvement in the schools bill.
About 73% of academy schools voluntarily chose to become academies. However, schools which have received an “inadequate” rating from Ofsted are also legally required to become academies, and schools that have received two or more consecutive ratings below “good”, known as “requires improvement”, could also be converted into academies.
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, has previously said the move towards academisation could penalise the nearly 50% of all pupils taught in locally maintained schools who already receive a good education. The government should instead focus on properly funding and resourcing all schools, he added.
The research has prompted many others in the sector, including the National Education Union, to question the evidence for a move away from council-maintained schools. Currently 80% of secondary schools and 40% of primaries are academies. Councils were last able to open maintained schools in 2012.
Between August 2018 and January 2023, 72% of council-maintained schools retained their “outstanding” rating, compared with 60% of “outstanding” academies that did not inherit grades from their former maintained school status.
About 40% of academies which did not inherit a grade fell by at least one grade, compared with 28% of maintained schools, which the LGA said showed councils should be seen as effective education partners.
Louise Gittins, a councillor and chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “Our research is a reminder of the superb performance of council-maintained schools, and yet further evidence of why councils should be allowed to open their own schools again. Academisation can be the right choice and a good choice for some schools, and we fully recognise the positive progress schools that became academies have made.
“Councils want to ensure that every child gets the very best education and schooling in life. That is why it is vital they are given a central role in providing education and that [the] government recognises councils as the excellent education partner they are.”
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the findings demonstrated the “value of a democratically organised and supported school system”.
She added: “The LGA’s recommendations are sensible and important. Allowing local authorities to open new maintained schools would boost their ability to respond to demographic changes by opening quality provision. There is also a pressing need for greater local democratic oversight and coordination of admissions.
“Giving councils the power to direct all schools including academies to take in pupils would make our system fairer and more equitable and help ensure vulnerable pupils’ needs are met.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Academy reforms have played a major role in increasing the proportion of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools from 68% in 2010 to 88% last year.
“The best academy trusts transform outcomes for pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged, and deliver improvements in schools and areas where poor performance has become entrenched.
“Sponsored academies are usually former local authority maintained schools which were transferred to an academy trust in order to drive improvement following a poor Ofsted outcome, which is why these figures are completely misleading and wilfully ignore the real progress that academy trusts have made.”
