Male, T; Elton, J; (2016) Macadamia Primary School: the Forced Academisation of a Failing School. In: (Proceedings) BESA Ninth Annual Conference 2013. : Swansea.

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Abstract

This research reports upon the initial phase of a longitudinal qualitative case study of a primary school in the north of England undergoing forced academisation as a result of an unsatisfactory inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The aim of the study is to describe how the process affects key stakeholders and their perceptions of their individual role and of education more widely. Data collection commenced from the moment when the school received the judgement about its performance from Ofsted and this paper will examine the emerging themes during the ensuing ‘acknowledging failure’ (Stark, 1998) part of the process of school transformation. The study is atypical in multiple dimensions: historically researchers have experienced difficulties in accessing such sensitive and delicate educational contexts and as a consequence this exclusion has lead to a paucity of empirical research in the domain of failing or ineffective schools (Nicolaidou and Ainscow, 2003). In addition, however, as one of the first schools to undergo the most recent, and arguably the most challenging yet, Ofsted inspection framework the school became one of the first so called “failing” primary schools in England to be required to convert to an Academy under the coalition government’s school improvement policy and in this sense the research is highly current. The study seeks to capture the perceptions of the full range of stakeholders involved in this process, including the responses of pupils, parents and non teaching staff alongside the more traditionally sampled voices of education professionals and governors. The early findings suggest that the adult stakeholders have, if temporarily, negatively reframed their view of their role and of education, with many experiencing substantial professional identity issues. The nascent findings provide useful insights for school improvement in the dawn of a new era characterised by the rapid expansion of forced structural change in primary schooling.

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