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The dangerous power of Multi Academy Trusts
These vast multi-school bodies are fast becoming a monopoly in our marketised education system — one that can lobby the government to defy inspection and democracy, warns STEVE HANDFORD
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Keir Starmer’s £120 million to Sudan cannot cover the government’s complicity in the RSF genocide or atone for the long shadow of British colonialism and imperialism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
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JUST this week the Confederation of School Trusts, a powerful body representing most academies in Britain, issued a paper asking for a comprehensive review of the Ofsted inspection system — a review that proposed a weakening of Ofsted oversight and accountability for academy trusts.
Powerful trusts have merged, and they are starting to flex their muscles financially and politically. Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) were exempt from Ofsted inspection for many years, but due to various scandals about quality, transparency and accountability, this was reversed in 2016. Now, however, the favoured child of the Ofsted inspection system is, like Frankenstein’s monster, starting to exert control over its creator.
To set some context to this, Ofsted is controlled by a Tory government that believes, without a shred of evidence, that MATs are the route to school improvement. Ofsted arrives at schools with this prejudicial agenda. Non-academised schools are often judged harshly by Ofsted and then forced into academy trusts.
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