Academy toolkit resources
Resources for reps and members transferring to or working in an academy or free school
Routes to a new academy employer
There are several different ways that members can move to a new academy employer.
Measures, TUPE and academy transfers
A “measure” is a very broad term which will apply to any deliberate change in working conditions or practices which your employer wants to introduce.
Academy toolkit
Academy members: protecting your rights, building a collective voice.
Privatisation Update
Academies, free schools and privatisation news
EDSK on Academies
EDSK think-tank calls for a new approach to England’s school system.
Academies
The NEU supports and represents its members in academies in the same way as in local authority maintained schools.
Advice
Joining a MAT is not the answer
Becoming part of a MAT should be a decision based on an informed view of the evidence and arguments.
Academy conversion during the COVID-19 lockdown
Some schools plan to continue with academy conversion during the COVID-19 crisis. This is despite the current lockdown meaning schools are closed to most pupils.
Final checks before the transfer
A checklist for reps before transferring to a new employer
Academies: understanding which rights transfer
Know your contractual rights so that you can ensure they transfer to any new employer.
Academy toolkit - working in an academy
Know your rights, so you can act collectively to safeguard them.
TUPE information and consultation
TUPE information and consultation process and the key issues to be aware of
What is TUPE about?
TUPE is shorthand for the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection and Employment) Regulations 2006, a legal framework around which you can involve and engage members to act collectively to protect and advance their rights as they transfer to a new employer.
Preparing for a transfer: Academy toolkit
The process of transferring staff from one employer to another (eg an academy) is governed by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ( TUPE).
Health and Safety Model Policy - Checklist
The most common queries NEU members have on health and safety policy in academy trusts.
Using Health and Safety as a Tool to Help Campaign Against Academies
NEU Guidance for Reps and Local Officers
Ensuring Effective Health and Safety in Academies
NEU Guidance for Reps and Local Officers
Pay scales in academies and trusts
Details of how academies and trusts set pay scales and what pay and conditions arrangements are in place in these workplaces.
Model health and safety policy for academy trusts
A model health and safety policy for academy trusts, where no such policy is in place or where the existing policy is considered to be inadequate.
Press release
Serious Fraud Office inquiry
NEU calls for Serious Fraud Office inquiry into Collective Spirit Free School and Manchester Creative Studio School.
Academies sector annual report and accounts
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the publication by the DfE of annual reports on the expenditure and performance of the academy school sector.
Academy Transfers
Commenting on today’s Department for Education figures detailing the number of and cost of academy transfers and funding in England, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
Grove Academy action
Staff take 2 more days of action to protect the most vulnerable students in North Yorkshire and form the “Working together walk”
John Roan School Strike
National Education Union members at The John Roan School, a secondary in Greenwich will be taking further strike action on Tuesday 14 May as part of their ongoing campaign to revoke the academy order imposed on the school and stop its forced academisation.
Philanthropy and Privatisation
A report to be launched today by Education International (EI), the global education union confederation, lifts the lid on the activities of so-called ‘philanthropic’ organisations involved in promoting the commercialisation, marketisation and privatisation of education systems around the world.
William Torbitt Primary School
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education comments on the decision by the Department for Education to lift its academy order against William Torbitt Primary School in Redbridge.
Good news that Cambridge primary will not become an academy
NEU welcomes the news that St Phillip's Primary School in Romsey has decided not to convert into an academy or join an MAT.
Damian Hinds calls on more schools to become academies
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the Education Secretary’s call for more academies, and the Department for Education’s analysis of sponsored academies.
NEU comment: Sutton Trust on Academy Chains
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the Sutton Trust report Chain Effects 2018, published today.
PAC report on academy failures and misuse of funding is a wake-up call to DfE
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU has commented on Academy accounts and performance, the report of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
PAC ‘seriously concerned’ about the Government’s approach to asbestos management in schools
The Joint Union Asbestos Committee which comprises the education and support staff unions (ASCL, GMB, NAHT, NASUWT, NEU, UCU, UNISON, Unite and Voice) and the Asbestos in Schools Group, Chaired by Emma Hardy MP are today responding to the asbestos recommendations in the Public Accounts Committee report into Academy accounts and performance.
Government reforms failing to tackle inequality
A UCL report on social mobility confirms what the NEU has been warning about for some years, says Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union.
NEU comment on PAC report on converting schools to academies
The NEU welcomes a report from the Public Accounts Committee into converting schools to academies, and agrees with its recommendations.
NEU comment on academy trusts in deficit
Academy sector and schools as a whole are feeling the effects of an unsustainable funding model, NEU says.
Article
Winning on workload in academy chains
Members at an Oasis academy school in London have made real progress in tackling workload.
Policy
Campaigning against academisation
The Government continues to promote its academy agenda, encouraging and compelling schools to become academies as part of multi-academy trusts (MATs). This guidance sets out the legal rights and arguments that can be made to resist academisation.
The NEU case against academisation
Academisation is driving down staff pay, terms and conditions, alienating communities and has caused the fragmentation of the education system. Despite this, English schools are still being put under pressure to become academies and to join multi-academy trusts (MATs).
Academisation of Catholic schools
Academisation of Catholic schools has accelerated in recent years, with a number of Catholic dioceses encouraging schools to convert to academy status as part of Catholic Multi Academy Trusts (MATs).
Academy status, pupil attainment and school improvement
No evidence linking academy status and educational standards