Last week, Michael Gove marked an important moment in the coalition government’s school reforms. The number of academies — that is, state schools granted independent status — reached 407, twice the number created in almost a decade of Labour’s academy programme. Since September, schools have become academies at the rate of one a day. But then the later stages of a reform are often easier than the first.
The man most responsible for the early stages of this reform was Andrew Adonis, a former journalist, policy adviser, Labour peer, minister and now director of the Institute of Government. His new job involves helping Whitehall improve the policymaking process. And one of the more successful coalition policies is the academies agenda which he nurtured, first as an adviser to Tony Blair and then from 2005 to 2008 as education minister.
Academy status was seen at first as a remedy for failing schools. They would be made independent, put under new management and with the help of external sponsorship provide opportunity for students from some of the poorest and most deprived neighbourhoods of England.
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