Organisation voices its support for academies (From The Northern Echo)

Organisation voices its support for academies

9:47am Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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A BUSINESS organisation has welcomed the Government’s programme of school reform as a step in the right direction, but called for legislation that would see businesses play a much more hands-on role in education.

The Confederation of British Industries (CBI) supports Education Secretary Michael Gove’s move to open 32 academies and enable new schools to be set up, which it claims will help young people achieve their potential.

But in a new report, “Fulfilling potential, the business role in education”, the CBI called on the coalition to go further.

The CBI wants to see more federations, or chains, of schools to help drive up standards.

These federations would consist of a group of schools being run by a single governing body, which could be another school, business, or third sector body.

The last Labour Government began the process of widening involvement in federations by asking schools and providers to apply to become accredited. The CBI wants to see Mr Gove make them an integral part of his reform programme.

It also want the Government to make it easier for businesses to set up and run a “free” school, currently restricted to parent and teachers’ groups or charities.

Susan Anderson, director of education and skills at the CBI, said: “The coalition’s school reforms will see more schools having the freedom to deliver high standards of attainment, through a more attractive and effective curriculum.

“We want the Government to ensure these academies and the new free schools have the freedom to innovate in the classroom, but it should go further and develop federations that use existing strong leadership and robust quality assurance systems to drive up standards across ‘chains’ of schools.

“The current generation of young people will experience greater change in the workplace.

Businesses have a key role to play in raising educational outcomes, not just by offering students work experience and career support, or acting as school governors, but also by bringing their vast, largely untapped, reservoir of experience to bear in advising, managing and partnering with schools.”