In the news

Expansion of academies

General Secretary John Dunford appeared on Radio 5 on 25 May along with an academy head reacting to the government plans to offer academy status to all 'outstanding' schools and pointing out the safeguards needed. John said that, while many schools would be interested in finding out more about academy status, most would not commit until the government had provided much more specific detail on areas such as funding, governance, and pay and conditions.

IGCSEs extended

As the government announced its intention to expand IGCSEs in state schools, ASCL's reservations were reported in The Independent, Guardian, Times, Evening Standard, and Daily Telegraph.

John Dunford said: "GCSEs are well established as the major qualification route at age 16 and have been hugely successful in giving many more young people the opportunity to achieve. There is already confusion about IGCSEs, which are very different to GCSEs."

An opinion article on the same topic by John Dunford also ran in The Times Public Sector pages.

Special measures

ASCL urged caution in the government's latest plan to 'turn around failing schools', following news that Michael Gove said schools put in special measures by Ofsted for at least 12 months would be converted into academies under new leadership. In The Telegraph, Evening Standard and Daily Mail, Policy Director Malcolm Trobe said: "A year is often not sufficient to show sustainable change. We understand the urgency which politicians give to this, but we believe politicians don't always understand how complex the situation is."