The government’s plan to force all schools to become academies has come under further attack with research which suggests that council-maintained schools outperform academies at inspection.



Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found that 86% of local authority schools are rated good or outstanding by the schools watchdog, Ofsted, compared with 82% of academies and 79% of free schools.

Looking only at data drawn from the new, more rigorous Ofsted inspection framework introduced in 2012, the LGA says the figures are even more pronounced, with 81% of council-maintained schools rated good or outstanding, compared with 73% of academies and 79% of free schools.

The LGA claims the research shows that “inadequate” council-maintained schools are more likely to improve if they stay with their local authority, rather than convert to an academy – 98% of council schools improved in their first Ofsted inspection after being rated “inadequate” compared with 88% of academies.



The LGA study was released early as the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, came under increasing pressure from many in her own party to back down on plans, outlined in the education white paper, to force all schools to become academies.



Morgan would not be drawn on reports that discussions are under way about possible concessions aimed at appeasing Tory rebels, including allowing the best-performing local authorities to run their own multi-academy trusts (MATs).

Responding to education questions in the House of Commons on Monday, she did not appear to budge from the government’s stated aim that all schools should be academies by 2022. She told MPs: “I’m not going to leave the job half done. I’m going to finish this job.”

Paul Carter, who chairs the County Councils Network and is leader of Kent county council, expressed support for the continuing involvement of local authorities in education. He said: “The County Councils Network support the initiative of local authorities with a good track record supporting schools forming multi-academy trusts. However, we need to see more detailed proposals.”

Another local authority source warned, however, that the cost of setting up a multi-academy trust – even one involving the local authority – would be considerable and that money would be better spent on teacher recruitment.



Councillor Roy Perry, chairman of the LGA’s children and young people board and leader of Hampshire county council, said: “[The LGA] figures clearly demonstrate that councils are education improvement partners, rather than barriers to delivering the high quality education that our children deserve.



“With 86% of council-maintained schools in England rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, the government needs to recognise councils’ role in education improvement and that imposing structural changes on schools is not the best way to improve education.”

The Department for Education said the LGA figures were misleading as the worst schools had been taken away from local authority control. A spokesperson said: “These figures are completely misleading and wilfully ignore the real progress that’s been made through removing the very worst performing schools from council control and turning them into sponsored academies.

“It’s thanks to such reforms that 1.4 million more children are now learning in good or outstanding schools compared with 2010. The latest inspection results show 350,000 children now study in sponsored academies rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the the government’s reported concessions did not go nearly far enough.



She said: “Schools will still be forced to go through a completely unnecessary and expensive legal process to change into academies which will divert their heads’ attention away from running the school and improving children’s learning.

“The government will still force over 16,000 schools to become academies regardless of what parents, governors and staff want and make them join a multi-academy trust. And yet the government still cannot produce any evidence that becoming an academy improves education – all the evidence is that it could make it worse since only three MATs get above average results for their pupils.”