In England, more than 1 million students are taught in the 1,300 academies across the country. In July of 2010, the Academies Act made it possible for any good school to apply to become an academy. More than 1,500 schools have applied for this freer class structure. This means that more than 40 percent of secondary schools in England are either already academies or are in the process of opening as an academy. England’s Education Secretary, Michael Gove, said that the children “benefit from longer school days, smaller class sizes, better paid teachers, more personalized learning, improved discipline and higher standards all round.” Some of the benefits academies get over secondary schools are freedom from local and central government control, the ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff, freedoms around the delivery of the curriculum, and freedom to change the lengths of terms and school days. The academies work with primary schools that need improvements to offer support.
The conversion of these schools to academies sounds like it is working well for England’s education system. The teachers are getting higher pay, and are therefore happier to do work at home or stay later with the children. It is also keeping teachers in the school for longer amounts of time versus changing professions after a few years. With more experienced teachers in the classrooms, new teachers have someone to look up to for support and guidance and the students are learning from an experienced source. Academies hold students at higher standards, so the students aren’t goofing off in class; they are actually paying attention and learning. This switch could help other countries improve their own education systems. The US would greatly benefit from this way of education I believe.
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