Stephen Machin and James Vernoit argue there has been a U-turn in academy schools policy under the new governmenteducation, academy schools, schools, academies

James Vernoit

Stephen Machin

English

Research Papers in Economics

CentrePiece Autumn 2010
19
T
he gradual introduction of
academy schools into
England’s educational
system has been a
controversial policy
innovation. Supporters passionately believe
that academies can make a real difference
to pupils’ educational outcomes, while
critics claim that they are just a way of
privatising the state education system by
stealth. But who is right – and what impact
will the coalition government have on
academy school policy?
Academies are independent, non-
selective, state-funded schools that fall
outside the control of local authorities, and
are managed by a private team of
independent co-sponsors. The sponsors
then delegate the management of the
school to a largely self-appointed board of
governors.
An academy usually has around 13
governors, with seven typically appointed
by the sponsor. Each governing body is
responsible for employing staff, agreeing
pay and conditions of service with its
employees and deciding on the school’s
policies on staffing structure, career
development, discipline and performance
management.
The first clutch of academies was
opened in September 2002 by the Labour
government with the clear policy aim of
improving educational outcomes in
deprived areas. Poorly performing schools
were awarded academy status by taking
over or replacing schools that were either
in special measures or seen as under-
achieving. The hope was that the
combination of independence to pursue
innovative school policies and curricula,
with the experience of the sponsor, would
enable academies to drive up the
educational attainment of their pupils. 
The performance of 
academy schools
Our research seeks to evaluate the
performance of academy schools by
comparing them with a selected group of
schools that are due to become academies
in the future but have yet to make the
transition to academy status. The latter
group consists of schools that are very
similar in their pre-academy characteristics
to the pre-academy characteristics of the
schools that have already become
academies.
We believe that, with careful statistical
analysis, these ‘future academies’ can
provide a counterfactual, allowing us to
see what would have happened to the
current academies had they not become
In the second of our series on policies of the coalition
government, Stephen Machin and James Vernoit
compare academy schools created by Labour with the new
‘coalition academies’, those that have either opened this
autumn or applied for academy status since the election.
Academy schools:
who benefits?CentrePiece Autumn 2010
20
Figures 1 and 2 compare the
characteristics of secondary schools that
were approved to open as academies
under the Labour government with those
that have been approved by the new
government. Also shown are the
characteristics of schools that have applied
to the new government for academy
status and all state secondary schools.
academies. A comparison of the
performance of the current academy
schools, both before and after they
became academies, with the future
academies over the same time period,
enables us to identify the impact of
academy status on the performance of 
the school. 
Our preliminary results show that
academies that have been open for at
least two years have been able to
generate a significant improvement in
their GCSE performance compared with
the future academies. We find that an
extra 3% of pupils in the academies are
achieving at least five or more grades A*-
C at GCSE/GNVQ compared with the
schools that have not yet become
academies.
For the academy schools that have
been open for a shorter time than two
years, we do not find any significant
improvement in GCSE performance. This
may explain why an earlier study (Machin
and Wilson, 2009) was unable to find any
positive effects of academy status on pupil
achievement.
Overall, these results suggest that
academy schools can deliver faster gains in
GCSE performance than comparable
schools. Given the preliminary nature of
these findings, we are reluctant to draw
too strong a conclusion. But it does seem
that converting to academy status – at
least under the Labour government’s
model of converting disadvantaged
schools to academies – may actually
deliver significant improvements in GSCE
performance. At the same time, we need
to be patient for any performance
enhancing ‘academy effect’ to emerge. 
The impact of the coalition
government on academy
school policy 
The education policies of the coalition
government have reawakened controversy
about academies. This seems to stem
largely from the changing aim of the
academies programme under the new
government (Machin and Vernoit, 2010).
The government has made clear its
intention to expand the academies
programme significantly. To do so, it
initially asked every headteacher in
England if they would be interested in
academy status. By 31 August 2010,
170 mainstream schools had made
an application to convert to
academy status. Progress has
been rapid, and 31 of these
schools have had their
application accepted
and started operating
as academy schools in
September 2010.
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
■ Coalition – 2010/2011 open academies (25)
■ Coalition – academy status applicants (99)
■ All other maintained secondary
■ Labour academies (267)
Notes: Number of academies in September 2010.The Labour academies 
opened in the following academic years: 02/03 – 3 opened, 03/04 – 9 opened,
04/05 – 5 opened, 05/06 – 10 opened, 06/07 – 19 opened, 07/08 – 37 opened,
08/09 – 47 opened, 09/10 – 73 opened, 10/11 – 64 opened.
Figure 1:
Percentage of year 11 pupils gaining 5+ A*-C (GCSE) 
or equivalent
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
 
5
+
 
A
*
-
C
 
(
G
C
S
E
)
 
o
r
 
e
q
u
i
v
a
l
e
n
t
‘Coalition
academies’ are
significantly
more advantaged
than the average
secondary school
– and even more
so compared
with Labour
academies CentrePiece Autumn 2010
21
Summary
Following the change of government,
there has been a U-turn in academy
schools policy. Under the Labour
government, the programme was aimed
at combating disadvantage, and we find
evidence that it may actually have
achieved this objective in schools that
have had academy status for a long
enough period.
Under the coalition government, the
academies programme is now likely to
reinforce advantage and exacerbate
existing inequalities in schooling. At a
time of budget restraint, it seems
natural to question whether the
large expenditure involved in
converting these
advantaged schools to
academies is justified.
Figure 1 shows the academic
performance of the different groups of
schools, as measured by the proportion of
children achieving five or more A*-C
GCSE passes. Figure 2 shows an indicator
of deprivation in the different groups of
schools, the proportion of pupils who are
eligible for free school meals.
It is clear from this evidence that the
academies that opened in September
2010 – and the schools that have applied
to the coalition government to become
academies in due course – are
significantly more advantaged than the
average secondary school. They are even
more advantaged compared with those
schools that were approved to open as
academies under Labour.
The ‘coalition academies’ contain far
lower proportions of pupils who are
eligible for free school meals, and they
are considerably better performing
schools in terms of GCSE results. 
Stephen Machin is a professor of economics
at University College London and CEP’s
research director. James Vernoit is 
a researcher in CEP’s education and 
skills programme.
Under Labour,
academy school
policy was aimed 
at combating
disadvantage;
under the
coalition, it is
likely to reinforce
advantage
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
■ Coalition – 2010/2011 open academies (25)
■ Coalition – academy status applicants (99)
■ All other maintained secondary
■ Labour academies (267)
Figure 2:
Percentage of secondary school pupils who 
are eligible for free school meals
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
 
e
l
i
g
i
b
l
e
 
f
o
r
 
f
r
e
e
 
s
c
h
o
o
l
 
m
e
a
l
s
Further reading
Stephen Machin and James Vernoit (2010) 
‘A Note on Academy School Policy’, CEP Policy
Analysis (http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/
pa011.pdf).
Stephen Machin and Joan Wilson (2009)
‘Public and Private Schooling Initiatives in
England’, in Rajashri Chakrabarti and 
Paul Peterson (eds) School Choice
International: Exploring Public-Private
Partnerships, MIT Press.

Academy schools: who benefits?

http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp325.pdf

Academy schools: who benefits?

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