Review of the impact on pupils of English academies

Summary

In England academies are state-funded schools that are managed outside local authority control and have greater operational autonomy. The introduction of academies in 2002 and their rapid expansion after 2010 have led to a major reorganisation of the English school system. This article reviews the quantitative evidence on the impact of academies on pupil outcomes and identifies gaps in the existing literature. It focuses on studies using experimental and quasi-experimental methods to estimate the causal effects of academisation and identifies 14 studies evaluating these effects. Evidence suggests that early sponsor-led academies have improved pupils’ academic achievement. By contrast, findings for academies established after the large-scale expansion of the programme are more mixed. The literature also indicates that academy conversion has been associated with changes in school composition, including shifts in pupil intake that may contribute to greater social stratification between schools. Overall, existing studies rely largely on administrative data and focus primarily on exam performance, highlighting the need for further research on broader pupil outcomes and the longer-term consequences of academisation.