Academies Bill 'could help schools to raise standards'

July 28 2010

Educational professionals teaching in the UK could benefit from greater flexibility and autonomy as a consequence of the new Academies Bill.

This is the view of Lorraine Heath, headteacher of Devon's Uffculme School, one of the educational facilities which is eligible to convert to academy status under the new law.

She told BBC News that opting out of local authority control could enable her school and others like it to make its own decisions about how to administer necessary cuts to budgets.

Ms Heath said that the retention of its staff in teaching jobs is key to this, with academy status allowing the school to focus on keeping teachers in classrooms rather than being forced to spend the money elsewhere.

"If we are are going to get additional resources and we decide to spend them on teachers in classrooms, that's going to help us ... preserve the really high standards that we've already got," she explained.

The Academies Bill was made law following a vote by MPs this week, with the motion being passed by 317 votes to 225.

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