“Educational Excellence Everywhere”: Academies

Lucy Frazer Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

At Prime Minister’s questions the Prime Minister talked about academies for all and education for all, and that is exactly what we are going to see.

[Lucy Frazer (South East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

The shadow Secretary of State said that there is no evidence that academisation, in and of itself, improves performance, but does the Secretary of State think that the increased autonomy that is inherent in the structure of academies does improve performance, as set out not only in the PISA report that she mentioned but in the McKinsey report of 2010?

[Nicky Morgan]

I entirely agree with my hon. and learned Friend. We have been very clear that just calling a school an academy does not automatically raise standards, but academies are the vehicle by which those working in them have the creativity to innovate with the curriculum, to set flexibility for pay and conditions, and to collaborate more freely with other schools. That is exactly what academy schools are doing, and that is why standards are going up.