ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on a report by the National Audit Office which found that England's academy schools programme is on course to meet its aim of raising pupils' attainment in deprived areas.

A report on the 46 open so far out of the 200 planned by 2010 found results rising faster than in other schools.

Stakeholder Response: ATL

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Dr Mary Bousted, Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary, said:  "Despite the use of dubious statistics – comparing academies with the weakest schools – it is clear the performance of academies is worse than that of other state schools. 

"This is despite the vast amounts of money being spent on them – especially in building costs, which are well in excess of those for local authority schools. 

"The government should stop the experiment now. 

"Academies are an expensive mistake – both with children’s education and tax-payers’ money – and need to be returned to local accountability without delay."

Stakeholder Response: NASUWT

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Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, said: "Nothing in the National Audit Office report justifies the huge investment of public money in academies or the threat they pose to the public service ethos of state education.

"The case for their existence remains unproven.

"In common with all other schools, any successes are down to the hard work of the school workforce and the efforts of pupils."

Stakeholder Response: NUT

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Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the NUT, said: "Predictably the uncomfortable details hidden behind the hype of the National Audit Office report are ignored by the government.

"While academies achieve better results than Fresh Start schools, the results are not as good as those of local authority schools covered by Excellence in Cities.

"The NAO report is no place to turn for an independent analysis of whether a government policy is raising educational standards

"The chief inspector’s annual report was lukewarm on academies, identifying difficulties with staff recruitment, retention and the inexperience of staff. 

"It also pointed to the uneven performance of the academies rather than suggesting that all was well in the garden.

"The high costs and cost over-runs of the academies with no end time for their start up funding are not available for local authority schools and are ignored by the government.

"Even Edward Leigh MP acknowledges that big risks and challenges arising from this ‘huge, costly programme.’

"The recommendations made by the NAO describe a direction of travel towards returning academies to the local authority family of schools. This is a message the education secretary should not ignore."