29. In his opening statement as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, on 10 July, Ed Balls announced a significant weakening of the freedoms of academies. Academies are a genuinely beneficial programme because they go some way towards freedom of management, which is one of the two key principles of education reform (the other being parental choice).
30. Gordon Brown has indicated strong support for the scheme.19 Ed Balls has supported plans to increase the number of academies to 400, with a stated target of 200 by 2010.20 But the weakening of reform means that this commitment has much less significance.
31. The key management freedoms for academies have been in regard to teachers' pay and conditions and the national curriculum. Ed Balls announced the end of the second of those:
"And while freedom to innovate in the curriculum to turn around failing schools matters, in practice all academies now go with the grain of the National Curriculum and many go beyond it. So from today, all future academies will follow the National Curriculum programmes of study in core subjects of English, maths, science and ICT." 21
32. Given that most academies do not vary teachers' pay, this means that academies will be largely indistinguishable from other schools. This contrasts directly with the vision of academies presented by Tony Blair, which was as "independent" state schools.
"Academies are a prime example of the innovation we seek, and the linkage of investment to reform. They are entirely new schools, with a specialist centre of excellence and an all-ability intake. They have a wholly new, independent governance structure which comes from the relationship with an external sponsor who brings not only a financial endowment but also vision, commitment, and a record of success from outside the state school system. The result: academies with strong vision and leadership, state-of-the-art facilities, high standards, maximum capacity to innovate - and entirely free to the pupil and parent, like any other school in the state system." 22
33. The new Secretary of State Ed Balls also announced new spending commitments ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review. He has pledged an additional £415 million in funding, £150 million to expand the Assessment for Learning programme and £265 million for the extended schools initiative.23
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19 Brown, G. (2007), Prime Minister's monthly press conference, 23 July. "We are pressing ahead with the academy programme".
20 Balls, E. (2007), Hansard, 10 July, col. 1322. " It is my belief that, as we move towards our target of 200 academies by 2010, rising thereafter to 400, we should now accelerate the pace of the academies programme over the next few years - with a much greater role for universities. "
21 Department of Communities, Schools and Families (2007), news release, 10 July.
22 Blair, T. (2004), Speech on Building Schools for the Future, 12 February.
23 Balls, E. (2007), Hansard, 10 July, col. 1326.