The pupil premium and policy transfer in English standalone and system leader multi-academy trust academies

As England attempts to close educational attainment gaps faced by socioeconomically disadvantaged children using Pupil Premium funding, no attention is given to how different types of academies do so, nor to policy transfer’s role in informing policies for disadvantaged pupils. Employing a qualitative comparative case study methodology with semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, this research compares five primary standalone academies with five system leader multi-academy trust academies. It finds all academies support disadvantaged children with academic, pastoral and extracurricular provision. This is justified by voluntary and coercive policy transfer extending across space and time, in addition to evidence-based policies and school-specific needs prioritised to varying degrees across academy types. Overall, system leader multi-academy trust academies’ structure and composition facilitate policy transfer through horizontal and vertical spread of successful practices compared to standalone academies