Academies

It seems to me that this is a complete waste of money and the Goverment has got it wrong, anyway that is my opinion.
This is the way I see it, the only reason academies get better grades than comprehensive schools is because the parents of the children who actually bother trying to get their kids into an acadamy (because of the posh new buildings and the reputation it recieves) rather than just settle for the comprehensive school are likley to take a more proactive role in education.

And because the children who go to the academy parents take more of an active role and believe in education more than those who go to comprehnsive schools its obvious that the quality/ work effort of the students that go to the academy will be higher where ever they go
I dont believe the better results from acadamies are because of better teaching styles a good student will get good grades where ever they go. The improvement in results is because of the fact their parents have a better view towards education so this rubs off on the children.

Academies are waste of muliti millions of pounds, its just a myth they improve grades the reason isnt because of better teaching but because of the quality of student/ influence of childrens parents that go there

If anyone else has a different view I would be willing to listen,
but as I said this is how I see it at the moment

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

hermaphrodite

Academies are rubbish imo. I dont think they shall work. you live in manchester OP. Manchester Academy got 22% last year in GCSEs. Can i ask which school you go to in Manchester OP. PM if you dont wanna answer on this forum.

Reply 2

Melancholy

I think they're a good idea, but then again, I'm biased.

Reply 3

hermaphrodite

^^ so TML; would you send your kids to one-assuming you lived near one

Reply 4

Melancholy

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. However, like I say, I'm biased; and I can only judge based on my experience.

Reply 5

Phillip

TML

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. However, like I say, I'm biased; and I can only judge based on my experience.

Can I ask who is your avatar?

Reply 6

Melancholy

Hugo Grotius :smile:

Yours is Hitchens, isn't it?

Reply 7

Phillip

TML

Hugo Grotius :smile:

Yours is Hitchens, isn't it?

Of course. Though he looks a bit like Camus.

Reply 8

Melancholy

After a bit of googling I see what you mean.

Reply 9

afua12

lol this might be a really stupid question... but what is an academy?

Reply 10

hermaphrodite

sasha.

lol this might be a really stupid question... but what is an academy?

it's a type of school. what type of school do you go to

edit - i've just checked your profile and the internet; you go to a Comp

yeh - local comp.

Well I went to one, and tbh, it was better off as a CTC. But it only switched 2 years ago, so who knows how it will go. Based on the other Academies, not well.

Reply 13

hermaphrodite

^^^ CTCs are better. I'm from northampton .. .and down the road from where there's a place called Corby. it's the worst place somone could live. they have 4 secondary schools. 3 of them are failing comps and the other one is a CTC ( Brooke Weston). when i was at school it got over 90% at GCSE. This year its circa 80%. but its the best state non selective school in northamptonshire . . .they want to change it to academy status. (arguably essentially the same thing) .i dont see why though. if it aint broke - dont fix it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corby

read the Education and Employment sub section

Reply 14

hermaphrodite

OP - what encouraged you to start a thread on academies??

Reply 15

yawn

but what is an academy?

Academies are essentially independent state schools.

They have autonomy over their admissions, curriculum, spending etc. and are not subject to local education authority control; and therefore local politics as well.

There's quite a few formerly private day schools joining the queue to become academies...and their applications are likely to be successful if they can persuade the Government that they will serve the needs of the socio-economically deprived in their areas and admit on a non-academically selective basis.

As time goes on, Academies are proving to raise standards substantially and improve social mobility.

However, the BSF programme will ultimately result in all state schools having similarly wonderful working environments for their students...but without the autonomy.

Reply 16

empfrench

yawn

BSF programme? What is that? :confused:

Reply 17

Arminius

monumental waste of money in my opinion, its a typical new labour policy which is all about style (i.e flash new buildings and trendy sounding name) above subtance.

If you want to improve schools rapidly (i.e almost overnight) for next to no cost all you need to do is give the teachers the powers to enact discipline once again. Thats the source of most of the problems imo.

Reply 18

yawn

empfrench

BSF programme? What is that? :confused:

"Building schools for the future."

It is a good thing to research the pros and cons of new innovations in education before dismissing them as being a waste of money.

Investment in future generations is never a waste of money, whatever form that investment takes.