The Rise of American-Style Charter Schools in England
A push by the prime minister for academies has left local schools struggling to adapt to student population increases.
Without a doubt, the biggest change to the educational landscape in England over the next few years will be the growth of so-called academies and free schools, both modeled at least in part on U.S. charter schools.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would like every government-funded school in England to be a free school or academy by 2020. At present, they represent 60 percent of the country’s roughly 2,000 state-supported secondary schools.
The government’s academies program was launched in the 1990s under former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Initially, they were confined to inner-city areas. Now, though, any school can seek academy status. Failing schools, however, are forced to become academies with new private sponsors and—usually—a new principal (or headteacher, as school leaders are called in the U.K.).
A mantra appears to have been adopted by Conservative politicians which—roughly summed up—translates to academies and free schools are “good,” and state-maintained, local-authority schools are “bad.”
So, what exactly are these schools? Both free schools and academies are run by private sponsors—normally faith-based groups, teacher-led cooperatives, or private companies—many of whom will already have a track record in running fee-paying private schools. They have freedom to pay whatever salaries they like (within their budget) and freedom to ignore the national curriculum for state-supported schools. They are not allowed to select students by ability and will normally take in students from a specific geographical area surrounding the schools. The only difference between free schools and academies is that free schools are new schools while academies are existing schools (run by local Why England Is Pushing for Privately Sponsored, Charter-Like Government Schools - The Atlantic:
