City academy successes under scrutiny
The Government has been accused of manipulating data on city academies contained in a report issued last month.
According to the Government, city academies make a “significant difference” to pupils’ education.
But The Education Network (Ten) said there was no evidence in the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) report into the 11 existing flagship academies to support such a conclusion.
Ten argues that the report shows pupils have made only patchy progress at best.
It accuses the Government of creating a “misleadingly favourable impression” of the academies, which are partly funded by private donations and of which the Government hopes to build 200 by the end of the decade.
One example cited by the educational group is the Government’s statement that parents support the academies scheme. Ten points out this finding was partly based on surveys carried out before the academies had even opened.
Responding to the criticism, a spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) maintained the Government’s position and said the PwC report was part of a five-year review of the academies policy.
“We cannot afford to wait, condemning a generation of pupils in some of the toughest parts of the country to the failed approaches used in the past,” he added.
