The rise and rise of academy trusts: continuing changes to the state-funded school system in England

ABSTRACT This paper delineates the growth of academy trusts in England before exploring government intentions to base the future state-funded school system on ‘strong’ multi-academy trusts. Academies, directly funded by the central government, first appeared in 2002 as an alternative to local authority-managed provision, with the initial intention of addressing continued underperformance of schools in urban areas. It was not until 2010, however, with an incoming Coalition government that the academisation process was widened, a policy seemingly driven by a desire to limit the influence of local authorities in line with principles of new public management (NPM). The number of academies increased dramatically (for a variety of reasons) to the point where now over half the school population are within them. Individual academies have, since the appointment of Regional School Commissioners in 2014, been encouraged to join formally with other academies as multi-academy trusts (MATs). Whilst by 2022 there were nearly 10,000 academies, most were in MATs with the government signalling its intention through a White Paper to base the future on them. The academisation process has featured several areas of concern, however, not all of which will be resolved by the policy statements contained in this proposal for new legislation.