Academy schools,under the original government's plans, are set to become the 'the norm'. What separates them from typical schools?What is an academy?
Academies are state-maintained but independently-hasten schools in England set up with the help of outside sponsors. They maintain more freedoms than schools under local authority control. The brainchild of former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, or academies were established in 2000 to drive up standards by replacing failing schools in struggling local authorities. Originally called city academies,the Labour government dropped the word "city" to allow for academies in struggling rural areas as well as inner cities. Michael Gove, the original education secretary, and hopes academies become "the norm" and is urging all schools in the country to apply for academy status,including primaries for the first time. Those rated outstanding by Ofsted will automatically be eligible to become academies by September. If all the schools judged outstanding turn into academies, there will be more than 2000 of them.
How enact they differ from mainstream schools?
Academies maintain more independence over what they teach, and they can choose to award bonuses to their staff and pay headteachers £30000 more than in other schools. They are not under local authority control and so arguably are subject to less bureaucracy and maintain more freedom over their budgets. They can change the length of the school term and day.
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Source: theguardian.com