Scrap the academies -they don't work, say advisers

Ministers were urged to scrap plans for hundreds of flagship academies today after a highly critical report from the Government's own advisers.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers study found no conclusive evidence that the multi-billion-pound school improvement scheme was working.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused in effect of undermining the privately backed schools by curbing the extra freedoms they had been given under Tony Blair.

The report demanded a review of academy admissions policies to make sure the poorest children were not missing out on places at schools set up to help them.

The first academies opened in 2002 in an attempt to transform failing comprehensives in deprived areas. In exchange for up to £2 million, sponsors were given a major say in how the academies are run, while the Government funded running costs and state-of-the-art new buildings.

But the final evaluation of the programme from PwC identified a string of problems including too many staff who are not qualified teachers and taking a smaller share of pupils from the poorest homes than the struggling schools they replaced.

However, the study found "positive overall progress" in exam results although there were significant variations in how far academies had improved education for all children.

Critics demanded a halt to plans to establish 400 academies across England. Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "I urge the Government to try and stand back from its own perceived need to hold on to an initiative which is quite clearly going off the rails, and stop the academies programme."