Feature
Charles Clarke On Earleham Academy
About this feature
In this Community Chest interview, Dominik speaks with Charles Clarke about the proposal for Earleham High School to achieve academy status. Clarke discusses the role of sponsors from the University of East Anglia and City College, the necessity of improving education quality in low-performing areas, and the proposal to add English and technology specialisations to the school's existing sports specialism.
In this interview from the programme Community Chest, Dominik speaks with Charles Clarke regarding the proposal for Earleham High School to achieve academy status. Clarke argues that this transition is necessary to ensure a steady process of improvement and to lift education quality in an area with historically low achievement. He explains that the University of East Anglia and City College are the proposed sponsors, noting that sponsorship is intended to provide institutional engagement and focus rather than just funding. The discussion also covers the ambition to turn around low-performing parts of the educational system and the proposal to add English and technology specialisations to the school's existing sports specialism.
Topics
- Benefits and goals of academy status
- The role and motivation of institutional sponsors
- Effectiveness and academic research regarding academies
Participants
- Dominik
- Charles Clarke
Listen · selected clips
No clips have been selected for this feature yet.
Passages from the recording
Text from the recording. These passages are not linked to a playable clip.
In the school, by institutions or individuals who will help the school achieve its focus. Now, in the case of Erlem, those institutions are the City College and the University of East Anglia, and that is a very powerful driving force for change within a given school.
In this case, having UEA on board brings the academy decision-making closer to what the community needs, particularly given some of the specialisations that have been proposed. I haven't heard about the criticisms of the consultation process. As far as I know, it's an open process, and people are able to make their points of view felt in whatever way they want to do so.
Had lots more difficulties in being able to achieve it. I don't think that's surprising, but the ambition of the project is to turn around the lowest-performing parts of the educational system in this country.