The Education Secretary is “open to considering” whether struggling academies could return to local authority oversight and is reviewing the process for opening new schools.

In an interview with School week at The Federation of School Associations conference in Birmingham this week, Bridget Phillipson also warned there were “questions about the level of executive pay” in the sector, with all schools and trusts having to “justify” high salaries.

She has said she is focused on “standards, not structures”, and promised to “bridge the gap” between academies and maintained schools.

Exit clauses from the academy?

Opponents of the academy model want schools struggling with trusts to be able to return to local authority oversight.

Phillipson said it was “something I’m open to considering,” but added, “It’s not something where we have any plans to take any action anytime soon.”

She warned that “a school alone often cannot, or even a trust alone, solve all the problems … many of the challenges facing schools right now go beyond the school gates”.

“What I’m hearing more and more from school leaders is that it’s not just the pressure they face when it comes to whether they can recruit staff or whether they have the resources they need to provide a good level of education.

“It’s also that they support more children whose families are homeless or who grow up in poverty. It also has a big impact on children’s life chances. So that’s where the government has to come in, and it’s not just about schools or trusts on their own .”

Labor has signaled a move away from the previous government’s belief that multi-academy trusts should be the main driver of school improvement.

Last week it was cOut funding available for schools that voluntarily convert to academies and money for foundations looking to grow and expand.

Phillipson insisted “good trusts will continue to be able to grow … schools will be able to continue to convert”.

But she told School week: “Sometimes it’s not just about the structural change that is required. It may be about administrative changes. It may be about ensuring that the right leadership support is in place.”

LAs open new schools on the table

The forthcoming Child Wellbeing Bill will force academies to follow the National Curriculum and work with local authorities on admissions, place planning and special educational needs provision.

ministers also reviews 44 independent schools.

Does Phillipson envisage a Labor government allowing councils to reopen schools?

“We are looking at the situation that we have inherited, partly because we want to make sure that there is good value for money, that we create places and schools and provision in the areas where it is really needed or where there is not the right specialty in place. “

Phillipson confirmed that the government was looking at allowing municipalities to reopen schools, which was first revealed by School week in September.

More details on how the government will “even out the differences between schools” will be set out in the upcoming bill.

Government efforts to curtail some academies’ freedoms have alarmed some in the sector, who say it is their autonomy that has allowed them to innovate.

“Academies have nothing to fear”

But Phillipson said: “The best practice that I’ve seen in academies in terms of the really innovative and ground-breaking work they’ve done, particularly in community provision, early years, much more, is not linked to the measures that we’re bringing forward.

“I don’t think insisting that all schools teach the National Curriculum should be an obstacle to that kind of pioneering work. I really don’t think they have anything to worry about on that front.”

But she would not commit to curtailing more such freedoms, saying she “will not be tying my hands for years to come”.

A product of academia’s freedoms has been sky-high executive salaries. The highest paid, the Harris Federation’s Sir Dan Moynihan, earns almost £500,000. Four trust managers earn more than £300,000, while 44 earn more than £200,000.

Asked if she was comfortable with those pay levels, Phillipson said the government faced “difficult decisions” about school funding, which “will mean we have to work with schools on how we drive further efficiencies”.

Trust must justify top pay

“There are questions about the level of executive salaries and there is work that has started around making sure there is consistency across the board.

“In the current climate, which is tough – in government, in the country and in the school sector – I think there will be a need to justify pay levels.”

However, salary scales for shop stewards or salary caps for the CEO’s salary were “not something we are actively looking at”.

Phillipson said her approach to school improvement was “collaborative,” adding that she was “more focused on the best outcomes for our kids,” rather than school structures.

She warned there had been a “complacency” that “the way to drive standards is by changing the structure of a school”.

“Changing the leadership and structure of a school can be an incredibly important way of delivering better results for children. But it is not the only way, and there is still great variation between schools and within foundations.”