Life, the Universe and Experiments

On 10 September 2008 I was invited to the unveiling of the architectural plans for the new Hammersmith Academy at Stamford House, formerly a youth offenders institute. How serendipitous that the opening of this public exhibition coincided with 'Big Bang day', the day that the CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) project was switched on.

Most people would have read about CERN's experiment carried out in a 17 mile tunnel 100 meters underground somewhere in Switzerland. Scientists have installed a large hadron collider (when it starts working again) which shoots protons at near light speed, emulating the conditions when the universe first began.

Academies on the other hand are quite a different sort of experiment altogether. There are currently 83 academies in the UK, with 51 more due to open this year and another 80 in 2009. It was Labour's model for fixing failing schools and was the brainchild of one Lord Adonis (since moved sideways as Minister for Transport). The plan I understand had been to achieve 400 academies and possibly more? Inspired by independent schools, academies emulate stricter discipline structures, broad curricula and with added after school programmes as ways of improving standards.

All sounds well and good. However, academies have also been heavily criticized by teaching unions for allowing the management to depart from the standard terms of contract for their staff and by local authorities for opting out of their control and supervision. The sorts of sponsors and partnerships which they have chosen have also been the focus of much controversy.

There were originally hints of Labour offering peerages for sponsors (otherwise known as cash for honours). Then there were fears of sponsors having too much control over the curriculum. Creationism and the Vardy Foundation comes to mind. (Was that the Peter Vardy who was knighted in 2001 for contributions to education after he had offered to sponsor 6 academies, I hear you ask?). One may also recall Carphone Warehouse's attempt to sponsor Preston Academy in Lancashire to the outrage of parents and the local community.

The Hammersmith Academy, fortunately has more reputable sponsors. One of them, the Mercers Company has been involved with some 10 secondary schools as well as the St Pauls independent schools. The other, the Company of Information Technologists has a 20 year rather than 500 year history but also has a track record in the field of education as a partner in the Lilly Bayliss School in Lambeth. With expertise provided by these sponsors the new Academy aims to be a specialist school for creative and digital media and IT. My only qualm with specialist schools is that students at age 11 can hardly be ready to decide on their future careers.

Like all academies, this project will allow the Tory Hammersmith & Fulham Council to tap into government funding (in this case of up to £35 million). The sponsors are only obliged to put up £1m each, yet will be largely responsible for delivery of the project and setting the ethos and curriculum of the school.

South of the river across the Hammersmith Bridge, Lib Dem controlled Richmond Council has also opted for the academy route for three of their secondary schools. A sponsor that has expressed interest in two of these schools is the Swedish company, Kunskapsskolan. At a presentation which I attended, I was more than impressed by their innovative approach to teaching: each student will be given their own study plan for the week and encouraged to work independently. IKEA meets Oxbridge? That too will be an experiment that I shall follow with keen interest.

The jury however is still out on the success or otherwise of academies. In a position paper issued by ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers) they stated: "It is too early to judge whether there is a significant institutional effect on performance. And no adequate judgment can be made unless there is a direct comparison e.g. between a similar LEA-maintained comprehensive school that enjoys funding at the same level as an academy."

There is also a lack of evidence as to the impact of such skewed funding on other state funded schools in the area. In Hammersmith & Fulham, there are presently a disproportionately high number of students in secondary schools who come from outside of the borough. By the same token more than half of the student residents have chosen to be schooled outside of the borough. The new Hammersmith Academy will therefore only be addressing a fraction of the problem. Ideally more funding is needed to improve other state schools in the borough as well.

Finally, returning to the CERN project, there are skeptics who question whether the money could have been better spent on resisting climate change or meeting some greater world need. However the yearning to understand the unknown must surely be applauded. The project was not only the result of successful collaboration of 20 European nations (including the UK) but also a triumph in scientific endeavour.

Likewise, I believe that education of our future generation is so important that we should experiment in order to find new ways of improving standards in our schools. However this should not be at the expense of sacrificing control of the curricula nor loss of democratic oversight by the local authorities. Local Councils (including Lib Dem ones) should not have to succumb to the bribe from central government for fear of losing out on the valuable funding stream. I also believe that the focus of our experiments should be on education and teaching methods and not the economic models for funding our schools. Ultimately what is key is finding the best ways of educating our young people so that we can bring out the best in each and every one of them.