Academies Bill [Lords]

Amendment 1 would require all academies established in future to follow the national curriculum rather than one that satisfied"““the requirements of section 78 of the EA 2002””," which is that academies must provide a"““balanced and broadly based curriculum””." Amendment 25 would mean that new academies would be required to teach the national curriculum in"““science, mathematics, information technology and English””." Academies have been regulated since their inception by funding agreements. The previous Government took the stance—for many years—that that was the appropriate mechanism, and we agree with them. We intend to retain the funding agreement as the principle regulatory mechanism for academies. Via the new model funding agreement, academies will be required to teach English, maths and science as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Beyond that, they can choose a curriculum that both engages and meets the needs of their pupils. The freedoms in the academy system allow school leaders and teachers to be innovative in their approaches to raising standards and improving pupil engagement by tailoring the curriculum to the needs of their students in response to the type and quality of education demanded by parents. We trust teachers to use their professional judgment. They are the people who are best-placed to make such decisions. We want more freedom and flexibility for schools, not less.