The education secretary Nicky Morgan has been ordered by MPs to write to the chief inspector of schools after she publicly contradicted him over the watchdog’s powers to inspect academy chains.
Morgan came under fire over the government’s academies and free schools programme when she appeared before the House of Commons education select committee. She refused to back down from a direct clash with Sir Michael Wilshaw’s position, leaving baffled committee members to effectively choose who to believe.
Wilshaw has told a committee of MPs he believes Ofsted should be given additional powers to inspect and grade the management of the chains, as it already does with local authorities. At present, Ofsted can only inspect the schools run by the chains, not their administration.
Morgan was adamant, however, that Ofsted already has sufficient powers, adding: “I am not in the business of passing legislation for powers that already exist.”
The row first flared last week when Morgan appeared before the same committee. Since that time she said she had looked at a series of inspections Ofsted had already carried out of schools within academy chains, including AET and E-ACT, and concluded: “Ofsted have these powers already in effect.”
Committee chairman Graham Start countered: “Michael Wilsaw says he does not have the power to inspect. You are saying you disagree with that?”
“I am,” said Morgan.
“That’s bizarre,” said Stuart. “I’m struggling with this.” Unable to make further headway he asked Morgan to write to Michael Wilshaw to clarify Ofsted’s powers to inspect chains.
Morgan also faced tough questioning from MPs concerned about the huge sums of public money being spent on free schools, which were opening in areas where there was little demand. One free school which had opened in Merton, in south-west London, had only 12 pupils; another secondary school in Durham had just 38 pupils, which meant £80,000 of public money was being spent on each child.
The education secretary countered by saying 71% of free schools were graded good or outstanding, and numbers were low because they had only been open two or three years.
Morgan was also asked about her vision for the future of the English education system and whether she planned to turn every state-funded school into an academy, as suggested in a recent report by the rightwing thinktank, Policy Exchange. More than half of secondary schools are academies but among primary schools, the figure is just 11%.
Morgan said she would like to see more schools becoming academies, but refrained from backing full academisation. She also took the opportunity to state that she did not want to see schools run for profit. “I recognise there are many schools that are still state-maintained and they are also doing a fantastic job. At the end of the day what I want is the best schools for our young people, and for every school to be good or outstanding.”
