The Pros and Cons of Becoming an Academy: An Honest Assessment

Most of what is written about academy conversion is written by people with a view. Trusts explain the benefits. Unions explain the risks. Law firms explain the process. Governing bodies are left trying to work out what is actually true.

This article sets out both sides as fairly as we can. We support schools through conversion, so we are not neutral, but we also regularly tell schools that conversion is not the right answer for them. A decision this significant deserves a straight assessment rather than a sales pitch.

What Actually Changes

Before the arguments, it helps to be clear about the mechanics.

An academy is a state funded school run by an academy trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee, under a funding agreement with the Secretary of State. It is not maintained by the local authority. Funding comes directly rather than through the authority.

The school remains free to attend, non selective where it was non selective, and subject to inspection. It must follow the law and statutory guidance on admissions, exclusions and special educational needs as maintained schools do.

Academies have some curriculum freedom, are not required to follow the national curriculum, and can set their own term dates and staff pay and conditions. In practice most academies exercise these freedoms sparingly.

Our guide to the conversion process sets out how you get there.

The Case For

Access to school improvement capacity. For many schools this is the real reason. A good trust brings subject expertise, leadership development, peer review and school to school support that a stand alone school cannot fund alone. For small schools particularly, this can be transformative.

Reduced isolation for leaders. Headship is lonely, and it is lonelier still in a school that is the only one of its kind locally. Trust structures give heads peers, line management and somebody to call.

Shared services and procurement. Finance, HR, IT, estates, payroll and governance handled centrally, often better and more cheaply than a school can manage alone. This also removes a substantial administrative burden from headteachers.

Financial resilience. Trusts can move resource between schools, absorb a difficult year and plan across a larger balance sheet. A stand alone school with falling rolls has fewer options.

Career development. Staff have routes to progress without leaving. Middle leaders can lead across schools. This helps retention in a difficult recruitment market.

Governance strength. Well run trusts have professionalised governance, proper clerking and clear separation between strategy and operations. Our guide to MAT governance explains the structure.

Control over the decision. Schools eligible for intervention can be directed to convert. A school that converts voluntarily chooses its partner. A school that waits may not.

The Case Against

Loss of autonomy. This is the genuine trade off, and it is often understated by trusts. Joining a MAT means accepting trust policies, systems, curriculum decisions and improvement approaches. The degree varies, but the direction is one way. A headteacher who is used to deciding will now be implementing in some areas.

The local governing body may lose power. In many trusts, the governing body becomes a local governing body with delegated responsibilities that the trust board can vary or withdraw. Governors who have held real accountability for years find this difficult, and it is frequently glossed over during conversion.

The top slice. A proportion of your funding goes to the centre. Whether this is good value depends entirely on what you get for it, and it is not always as much as promised. Our guide to conversion costs covers how to compare.

Leaving is difficult. If the relationship does not work, exiting a trust is possible but slow, requires departmental agreement and is rarely comfortable. This asymmetry is the strongest argument for thorough due diligence.

New compliance burdens. The Academy Trust Handbook, external audit, company law obligations, financial returns and published information requirements. Some of this is handled centrally in a MAT, but a single academy trust carries all of it.

Trust quality varies enormously. The best trusts are excellent. Some are not, and a school in a weak trust is often worse off than it was, with less ability to act. Rebrokering happens, and it is disruptive.

Local authority relationships change. Support you took for granted, and informal help that never appeared on an invoice, may no longer be available.

Staff and community concern. Even where nothing material changes for staff, conversion generates anxiety. Handled poorly, it costs goodwill. Our guides to the consultation and TUPE cover how to manage this.

The Arguments That Do Not Hold Up

A few claims recur on both sides and are worth setting aside.

Academies get more money. They receive funding directly rather than through the local authority, and they receive the element the authority previously retained for services it provided. They then pay for those services themselves. The headline figure is larger. The disposable amount usually is not, though procurement and scale can generate genuine savings.

Academies can do what they like. They cannot. Admissions, exclusions, SEND and safeguarding law all apply. Inspection applies. The funding agreement and Academy Trust Handbook impose obligations maintained schools do not carry.

Conversion is privatisation. Academy trusts are charities and cannot distribute profit. This is a change of governance model, not of ownership.

Nothing really changes. For pupils on day one, largely true. For governance, employment, finance and accountability, a great deal changes.

Where the Decision Usually Lands

In our experience, conversion tends to be right when a school genuinely needs capacity it cannot provide alone, when there is a trust nearby whose values and track record stand up to scrutiny, and when the governing body can articulate what will be better for children.

It tends to be wrong when the driver is anxiety about the future rather than a positive case, when the trust is chosen by proximity rather than assessment, or when a strong school with strong leadership is converting because everyone else is.

Our guide to joining a MAT or forming your own trust covers the next decision.

From Our Experience

Many leaders tell us afterwards that the thing they underestimated was cultural rather than structural.

We often see a school join a trust with genuine goodwill on both sides, and then spend two years negotiating things nobody discussed at the outset. Whose assessment system. Whose behaviour policy. Whether the school keeps its own INSET days. Who appoints the deputy head. None of these were hidden. They simply were not asked.

Schools that settle well into trusts are usually the ones that asked uncomfortable questions during the courtship. What will we no longer decide. Give me three examples of things you have required schools to change. Can I speak to a head who joined you and found it difficult.

Trusts that answer those questions openly are almost always the better ones to join. A trust that becomes evasive when asked what a school gives up is telling you something important.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do academies have to follow the national curriculum?

No, though they must provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Most academies teach something closely aligned to the national curriculum in practice.

Can academies change teachers' pay and conditions?

Academies can set their own pay and conditions for new appointments. Existing staff transfer under TUPE on their current terms, and changes afterwards are legally constrained.

Do academies have to follow admissions law?

Yes. Academies are subject to the School Admissions Code and must act as maintained schools do.

What happens to pupils with EHCPs?

The local authority retains responsibility for education, health and care plans. The SEND Code of Practice applies.

Can we convert and stay independent as a single academy trust?

Yes, though the department's clear direction of travel favours schools being part of strong multi academy trusts, and a single academy trust carries the full compliance burden alone.

Can a school leave a multi academy trust?

It is possible but requires departmental agreement and is rarely straightforward. Treat the decision as long term.

A Common Misconception

The misconception we meet most often is that this is a decision about structures.

It is a decision about who your school will work with for the next decade. Structures can be documented, compared and negotiated. Relationships cannot, and they are what determines whether conversion turns out well.

The governing bodies that make good decisions spend proportionately less time on the funding agreement and more time working out whether they trust the people. That instinct is usually right.

Questions for Leaders

• What problem are we trying to solve, and is conversion the best way to solve it?
• What will we no longer decide for ourselves?
• Have we read the scheme of delegation properly?
• Have we spoken to a head who found joining this trust difficult?
• If we do nothing for three years, what actually happens?
• Could we explain this decision to a parent in two minutes, honestly?

Our Perspective

Conversion is neither the answer nor the threat it is sometimes presented as. It is a structural choice that works well when the reasoning is sound and the partner is right, and badly when it is not.

The best conversions we see start from a clear view of what children need and work outwards. The most difficult ones start from a view about what might happen if the school stands still.

If you can describe, specifically, what will be better for pupils in three years and how you would know, you are probably making a good decision. If you cannot yet, that is worth another term of thinking rather than a faster application.

How Can Jarvis Education Help?

Jarvis Education advises schools and governing bodies on whether conversion is right for them, and supports those that proceed.

We provide independent due diligence on trusts you are considering, financial modelling, governance design and review, and project management for the conversion itself. Where we think conversion is not in a school's interest, we say so.

Our consultants have led schools and trusts, inspected schools, and supported MATs through growth, merger and rebrokering, including interim trustee roles during rebrokering.

Explore our academy conversion and MAT growth support, or get in touch for an honest conversation.