’Chaotic’ government reforms are failing to tackle education inequality

Two-thirds of head teachers believe that inequalities between schools are becoming wider as a result of current government policy, according to a new 'state of the nation' report by the UCL Institute of Education (IOE). The four-year study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, evaluated the government's 'self-improving school-led system' (SISS), which has become an overarching narrative for education policy since 2010, making schools more autonomous and accountable for their own improvement. The reforms have included an expansion in the number of academies and the development of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), the roll back of Local Authorities (LAs) from school oversight, and the development of new school-to-school support models, such as Teaching School Alliances (TSAs). In order to assess the impact of these changes, IOE researchers Professor Toby Greany and Dr Rob Higham collected case studies from 47 schools across four localities and worked with the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to evaluate the impact of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) on pupil attainment and progress, conduct a survey of almost 700 head teachers and analyse Ofsted results over a 10 year period. The researchers found that despite the government's claims to be 'moving control to the frontline' and giving schools more autonomy, the reality is very different. Schools are more tightly regulated than ever, facing pressure to get good exam results and Ofsted grades or face being taken over by a MAT.