Formation, Formation, Formation: the case for academies
Cheers were heard in some parts of Catholic education in England as the new Labour Government immediately put the dampers on the academisation of schools. The payments for schools to ‘convert’ to become academies, and capacity-building funding for small academy trusts, were cut. Then came the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, sponsored by Catholic education secretary Bridget Phillipson, with its reductions in academy freedoms and a greater role for local authorities. Is this the end of the road for academisation? Have those who held out against the advance of the corporate model been justified? Or, to paraphrase Mark Twain, have rumours of the demise of academisation been greatly exaggerated?
According to the latest data from the Catholic Education Service (Digest of 2023 Census Data for Schools and Colleges in England), 46% of all state funded schools in England (it’s not an option in Wales) are academies and there were 79 Catholic multi academy trusts. A CMAT, as they’re known, is a not-for-profit company which runs more than one academy with shared governance under the ultimate control of the bishop. In my travels around the country doing freelance work in Catholic education, I find there is still momentum, as they say, in the drive towards Catholic multi academy trusts. Some dioceses are forging ahead with ambitious plans to create CMATs of more than 60 schools.
So what of the new Bill? Do the proponents of Catholic MATs have their fingers in their ears while the death knell is sounding? The freedoms of academies will certainly be curtailed, but in ways that should sit comfortably with the Church’s teaching on education. The Bill proposes more cooperation on planning for school places locally, with more powers for councils to direct academies to admit a child. These will often be the most vulnerable children. Vatican II’s Declaration on Christian Education was clear on where Catholic schools should stand: “Every means should be employed to foster suitable cooperation between Catholic schools, and between these and other schools, that collaboration should be developed which the good of all humankind requires” (#12).
Since Vatican II’s reaching out to the world in solidarity, Catholic schools - at their best - have worked in partnership with other schools and local providers for the benefit of all children in a community. Catholic multi academy trusts - at their best - can play an even more significant role in building the common good in a community by providing civic as well as educational leadership, working in partnership on joined up provision for children and families, advocating for safe streets, affordable housing and decent wages.
Other provisions in the Bill will not trouble the Catholic educators in the CMATs I know, such as the requirement of all teachers to have or be working towards qualified teacher status, a new requirement for all academies to follow the national curriculum, a drive for all primary schools to have breakfast clubs and a limit to the number of branded uniform items. Schools deemed ‘inadequate’ (a grading system under review) were previously ordered to join an academy trust. This was a key argument for Catholic multi academy trusts, to ‘protect’ struggling Catholic schools from being forced into non-Catholics MATs, which happened in some places. Now this will be ‘discretionary’, with more scope for local decision-making.
So what is left of the argument that Catholic multi academy trusts are the future of Catholic education in England? What can they offer that staying with the voluntary-aided system, in place since 1944, cannot? We need to shift from a defensive posture of protecting Catholic education - which is now redundant anyway - to a positive vision for a new golden age in Catholic education. The first point I’d stress in such a vision is the opportunities of scale. Recently, I spoke to the Director of Chaplaincy in a CMAT. He had a team of 15 chaplains, providing chaplaincy services and training in formative resourcing for schools which have never been able to afford any chaplaincy provision. As the finances of dioceses come under increasing strain and diocesan education teams are reduced, the Catholic MATs have the capacity to develop the formation of teachers and leaders which is critical if Catholic education is to have a future in this country. There is no shortage of good professional development for educators in the areas of pedagogy and compliance, but only ‘in house’ can we form educators in the ‘why’ of Catholic education.
That ‘why’ is a deeply counter-cultural project of the formation of young people in a different ‘story’ of what it means to be a human being and to live together, which is opposed to the dominant story of individualism and competition that has become like the air we breathe. We believe in excellence in education, not for the material advantage of the student, but as a call to serve and be responsible for others. That quality of education can be enhanced by schools working together under shared governance at scale. Staff can work together across schools - as givers and takers of support - much more effectively under the guiding vision of Gospel-inspired leadership.
Which brings us to the biggest risk of Catholic multi academy trusts. In law, they are companies and registered charities. In my own experience in CMATs, I’ve seen the temptation to run the trust with a top-down approach focused on efficiency, remote from the children we are called to serve. That is why I would suggest that there are three priorities for Catholic MATs. To paraphrase the Labour Prime Minister who initiated the academy programme, they are: formation, formation, formation.
CMATs, working together with our Catholic universities and charities, our clergy, catechists, and religious orders, are our best chance to develop comprehensive formation programmes, rooted in the Gospel and Catholic spirituality, not secular programmes with a Catholic bit bolted on. The CMATs are beginning to work together on this to avoid duplication, which is encouraging. Leadership is key, as it has always been. The children in our CMATs will flourish and be formed in a Catholic vision of reality to the extent that they are led by Gospel-inspired servant leaders, humble and determined.
In a Guardian interview (21 March 2023) before the General Election, Bridget Phillipson said, “For me, being Catholic has always been about a wider sense of social justice, social action, the value and worth of every individual, the right of everyone to be treated with dignity and respect.” Catholic educators can sign up to that, and continue to work in partnership for the common good.
This article was first published in The Tablet on 15 February 2025