 
From Sue Clarke | March 22, 2016
It's been a ‘momentous’ few weeks in education since I last sat down to write copy for Headlines and, in this last issue of the term, I want to concentrate on two key announcements. You will be well aware that last week George Osborne confirmed the Government's intention to compel all schools to become academies. That followed Nicky Morgan's announcement of the start of consultations on a national fair funding formula.
I will start with the forced academisation programme. Over the past couple of weeks, I have met informally with over 100 heads and many governors to discuss the landscape for education and their relationship with the local authority. These have been very positive and lively meetings and, while we all acknowledge that Devon's not perfect, the general feeling at all these gatherings was of unease about forced academisation.
There was a real consensus amongst those who attended that choice and autonomy was being removed from them. They felt that there is work to be done to improve our multi-agency working, early help and provision for children with SEN and disabilities and to streamline our bureaucracy. But they thought that Devon knows its schools well and they don't want to lose that. They also felt that Devon County Council should be more vocal about national issues. Well, I don't think our Cabinet member for schools, James McInnes, can be accused of not making clear his views on the issue in the statement he gave to the media on Budget Day.
He said: "We’ve always adopted a neutral stance on this but less than a quarter of our 365 schools have chosen to become academies. We believe it is a decision for schools themselves and it is wrong to try to coerce heads and governors into following a path that they would not otherwise choose.
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