A Failure of Responsibility?

Former Schools' Minister, Lord Adonis, feels independent schools missed a golden opportunity to become involved with academies. He explains to Attain's Editor why he feels they are 'too timid'.
PHOTO: JOHN STILLWELL / PA WIRE

Few people could have predicted the extraordinary events which unfolded after the General Election in May. For five days, intense negotiations took place as both Labour and the Conservatives vied to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. At the centre of Labour's discussions was a man who had been at the heart of Government since 1998 - first as an advisor and then Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, before being projected into a Ministerial role in 2005 and charged with changing the educational landscape of this country. When Tony Blair chanted his educational mantra, it was to Andrew Adonis that he turned to implement his academies policy. But after three-and-a-half years at the Department - and with Gordon Brown now installed as Prime Minister - academies, in their originally defined role, were no longer seen as palatable. He was controversially moved to the Department for Transport, with the rumours of a putsch inside the DCSF to sideline him and a policy which never gained the support of the Left nor the Trade Unions. Modest and self-effacing, Andrew Adonis is almost unique in today's political landscape with supporters from all parties; a quality which made him indispensable in Labour's coalition negotiations.

'Well, that's rather overstating my position', he replied when I asked if the rumours were true that he had been engaged in a charm offensive with the Lib Dems even before the country had gone to the polls. 'I am a former Lib Dem and a large number of senior Lib Dems are friends of mine so of course I was talking to them.' But the talks in the end fell on stony ground; the immovable obstacle of Gordon Brown pushed the Lib Dems towards the Conservatives. 'I had hoped it would be possible to put a progressive coalition government between Labour and the Lib Dems together; it didn't prove possible and that is now history and things have moved on.' Things have indeed moved on for the former Secretary of State yet his new role, heading up the political reform think-tank, the Institute for Government, does not mean he has lost touch with Westminster politics. 'We need much better policy making processes within the political parties. The problem is that opposition parties in particular are so badly resourced and so focused on day-to-day campaigning that they come into Government with threadbare policy prospectuses... The Lib Dems had very little detailed policy prepared before the election and they are now of course running the country.' Yet quite the reverse was the case back in 1997 when Labour came to power. A truly staggering amount of money was invested in education during their 13 years in office - in 1997, investment in school buildings was £700 million; by 2009/10 it was £8 billion. But despite entering office with a huge majority, were Labour brave enough in their reforms? 'No. Not nearly brave enough. I would have done a lot of things differently if I had my time again.'

One thing which Lord Adonis regrets is the level of cooperation from the independent sector in the academies programme. His now famous appeal to Heads at the HMC Conference back in 2007 - 'It is your educational DNA we are seeking, not your fee income or your existing charitable endowments' - was not the success he hoped and he feels the blame lies with independent school Heads. 'I do not think the private school sector has risen up to its responsibilities properly at all. I think the majority of good private schools should be sponsoring academies and should be actively engaged in the opportunities which academies present. And in fact, only a small minority are - I deeply regret that and I think it is a huge missed opportunity for the private sector and it is a huge missed opportunity for the national education system.' For many Heads reading this, his candid views will come as something of a surprise. 'I can speak more frankly about these things now I am not in Government', he remarks.

But the criticism of the sector is not reserved just for Heads. 'I also believe that the governors of many independent schools are not properly living up to their charitable responsibilities to promote educational opportunity at large. And they are not seizing the opportunity that academies presented to move beyond the old debate between private and state education.' Readers will remember that the offer put forward was for senior schools to help in the establishment of a state-funded academy and inject their expertise into making the new school a success. Several HMC schools, including Dulwich, Wellington and Winchester, all signed-up but the response was lack-lustre from the sector as a whole, and Adonis laments this. 'I presented them with a once in a generation opportunity to put the division between private and state education behind them by private schools themselves becoming actively engaged in the promotion and management of state schools as academies. Hardly any private schools have responded to the challenge of themselves promoting academies and taking responsibility.' This is harsh criticism of a sector which has felt under fire from a barrage of Government legis-lation and Charity Commission scrutiny; some argue that the independent sector has become something of a pariah - the education that dare not speak its name.

But how does Andrew Adonis explain why independent schools did not engage with his visionary plan for education? 'They are simply too timid. They are too timid to rise to the chall-enge of managing a state school directly - they are far more comfortable with sitting on the sidelines and carping about the problem of standards in state education whilst not taking any responsibility whatsoever for doing anything about it. I think it is a huge missed opportunity.' But let's hold on a minute here. Many would argue that if you are a parent of a child at an independent school and are paying fees out of your taxed income you want that management team to be 100% focused on that school - does that not perhaps explain the reluctance for schools to engage? What about the preoccupation at the time with compliance with the Charity Commission guidelines? 'That's their excuse. A number of independent schools are engaged with academies. I know very well the independent school Head teachers and Chairs of Governors of those schools. None of them have said to me that it has in anyway detracted from the excellence of their private schools. On the contrary. All of them have said to me that it has enhanced their educational capacity and experience and the opportunity for their staff and their pupils. It is a straightforward timidity and a failure to move into what for them is a new set of challenges. That has led to the very regrettable failure of the independent sector to take advantage of the academy movement.'

But is that correct? Is it a fair criticism that the dream of a rapid expansion of academies is the fault of the independent sector, educating 7% of children whose parents are freeing up places in maintained schools and paying for the education out of their taxed income? The reality is that much of what Andrew Adonis says is fair criticism and he did present the sector with a 'once in a lifetime opportunity'. But that is not the whole picture. The problem with Government and implementing policy - as Harold Macmillan so correctly observed - is that events get in the way. And it is those particular events which best explain the lack of engagement in academies by independent schools.

Attain has seen copies of correspondence with the then DCSF written in May 2008. In the correspondence, it puts forward the suggestion that independent prep schools could become sponsors of academies and might be better placed to act as sponsors than senior schools. This suggestion was well received by the Department and a series of meetings took place with officials. The initial focus of the meetings was to identify the first opportunity for an independent preparatory school to sponsor an academy. But gradually the meetings dried-up, the dialogue stopped and the level of interest waned. Why? Attain asked David Hanson, Chief Executive of IAPS: 'I would agree with Lord Adonis that there should be a proper and full partnership between the public and private sector, in the interests of education in this country as a whole. I also agree with him on a personal level that many of our schools have the capacity and resources to make a contribution and, in fact, there is a moral imperative to do so. The reality is that we expressed very strong interest for our schools to become actively involved with sponsoring academies. Schools met with civil servants at the Department, and intentions were set out for IAPS schools - and IAPS itself - to become involved in working alongside academies. Nothing happened. And nothing happened because the civil servants did not want it to happen.' But civil servants act on the instruction of Ministers, so who was telling those civil servants to stop it from happening? 'It's a combination of two things', replied David Hanson. 'Political timing and personalities. The tragedy was that Lord Adonis was moved away from his position.'

And there, I believe, is the crux of the issue. When Lord Adonis left the DCSF, the then Shadow Education spokesman for the Lib Dems, David Laws, described his departure as 'a disgrace'. 'It looks as if Ed Balls has succeeded in forcing out a minister who he saw as a threat to both his primacy and his statist instincts.' Conservative Michael Gove said: 'Everyone... will be disturbed to hear that Ed Balls has kicked Andrew Adonis out of the Education Department.' I asked Andrew Adonis if any of this was true? 'I would rather not rake over the internal politics of the last Labour Government. In policy, what matters is that the academies continued, the number increased and we now have a very powerful and positive movement for change in the state education system. I am just very anxious that continues and I am hugely proud of all those. All I did was to make it possible; the hard work of academies is being done up and down the country by sponsors, governors and teachers who are doing an outstanding job. They are seizing hold of the future of the education system and that is a thoroughly positive development.'

But where does this leave the issue of the difference in direction adopted when Gordon Brown arrived into office? I put it to Lord Adonis that when Tony Blair left, the academies programme lost its way - a point reinforced by the experience of IAPS: 'I couldn't possibly comment on that one. The fact is that we have more than 400 academies which are either open or on the way to being opened. That's a phenomenal achievement for state funded education. The Coalition is taking the academies movement further, it is making it possible for more successful schools to become academies too and I support that. The academy principle is now becoming mainstream within the state education system and that is a phenomenal achievement, I believe, in a period of only ten years. And although I am very proud myself to have been there at the creation, it is an achievement of the education system at large. A huge welling-up of enthusiasm, dynamism, and innovation in the provision of better state funded schools on a new model of independent management.'

The irony perhaps is that the 'unfinished' work of Andrew Adonis is being picked up by the Coalition Government. At a recent conference hosted by IAPS for prep schools potentially interested in exploring academies, some 71 representatives attended. The 'once in a lifetime opportunity' which was offered in 2008 is still there. I asked Lord Adonis if he found it surprising that with academies there was now almost cross-party support? 'It's very encouraging. I always aimed to promote a consensus about worthwhile educational change. I never believed in having party political arguments for the sake of it. And it is not just about academies... I worked very hard to create that consensus as I believed that we should put education first, and politics second. I hope that can continue.'

Lord Adonis was talking to Attain's Editor, Matthew Smith.
This article first appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of Attain.