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Unexpected school reform: academisation of primary schools in England

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  • Andrew Eyles
  • Stephen Machin
  • Sandra McNally

Abstract

The change of government in 2010 provoked a large structural change in the English education landscape. Unexpectedly, the new government offered primary schools the chance to have 'the freedom and the power to take control of their own destiny', with better performing schools given a green light to convert to become an academy school on a fast track. In England, schools that become academies have more freedom over many ways in which they operate, including the curriculum, staff pay, the length of the school day and the shape of the academic year. However, the change to allow primary school academisation has been controversial. In this paper, we study the effect for the first primary schools that became academies. While the international literature provides growing evidence on the effects of school autonomy in a variety of contexts, little is known about the effects of autonomy on primary schools (which are typically much smaller than secondary schools) and in contexts where the school is not deemed to be failing or disadvantaged. The key finding is that schools did change their modes of operation after the exogenous policy change, but at the primary phase of schooling, academisation did not lead to improved pupil performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Eyles & Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2016. "Unexpected school reform: academisation of primary schools in England," CEP Discussion Papers dp1455, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1455
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Andrew Eyles & Stephen Machin & Olmo Silva, 2018. "Academies 2 – The New Batch: The Changing Nature of Academy Schools in England," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(1), pages 121-158, March.
    3. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Martina Viarengo, 2018. "Changing How Literacy Is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonics," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 217-241, May.
    4. Manipushpak Mitra & Rupayan Pal & Arindam Paul & P. M. Sharada, 2020. "Equilibrium Coexistence of Public and Private Firms and the Plausibility of Price Competition," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 176(2), pages 217-242.
    5. Parag A. Pathak & Kevin Ren & Camille Terrier, 2021. "From immediate acceptance to deferred acceptance: effects on school admissions and achievement in England," CEP Discussion Papers dp1815, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Lorenzo Neri & Elisabetta Pasini, 2020. "Heterogeneous Effects of School Autonomy in England," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 202010, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    7. Joe Regan-Stansfield, 2016. "Do good primary schools perform even better as academies?," Working Papers 141167564, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    8. Lorenzo Neri & Elisabetta Pasini, 2018. "Heterogeneous Effects of Mass Academisation in England," Working Papers 847, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    9. Liu, Yi & Bessudnov, Alexey & Black, Alison & Norwich, Brahm, 2019. "School autonomy and educational inclusion of children with special needs: Evidence from England," SocArXiv y7z56, Center for Open Science.
    10. Regan-Stansfield, Joseph, 2018. "Does greater primary school autonomy improve pupil attainment? Evidence from primary school converter academies in England✰," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 167-179.
    11. Natalie Irmert & Jan Bietenbeck & Linn Mattisson & Felix Weinhardt, 2023. "Autonomous Schools, Achievement, and Segregation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10831, CESifo.
    12. Lorenzo Neri, 2020. "Moving Opportunities: The Impact of Public Housing Re-generations on Student Achievement," Working Papers 907, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    academies; pupil performance;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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