A revolt is brewing among parents and teachers against plans for Sutton's secondary schools to become academies.

Last month all 14 publicly-funded secondary schools in Sutton signed a joint letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove advocating the advantages of becoming academies “without undue delay”.

The Sutton Teachers Association (STA), which represents the three main teaching unions, has now written to the Sutton Guardian expressing their objection to the schools taking academy status.

The association is also planning to team up with parent Jeff Bragg, who has formed his own coalition of parents and teachers to push for a public debate on the future of secondary school education in Sutton.

Susan Smith, SATs secretary and NASUWT member, said: “Academies are not a panacea to everything and there some quite serious concerns.

“Academies have no better record of educational achievement than any other school.”

She said the association is concerned academies did not have to adhere to nationally set pay and conditions for teachers and were not accountable to the local authority or community.

There are also worries additional funding given to academies will come out of a central pot which currently funds other services including support for pupils with special needs.

Kate Daly, secretary of the Sutton branch of teacher's union NUT, said she was concerned the voices of parents and teachers – the two groups with the most interest in academies – would not be heard.

She said it was too early to say whether industrial action would be taken.

Mr Bragg said he was keen to speak with the association and see how the two groups could work together. He has previously expressed concerns if Sutton schools become academies it will further worsen the chance of Sutton's children obtaining a place in Sutton schools.

A spokeswoman for the schools consortium said the group was having on-going discussions with the Department of Education but was still at an information gathering stage and no decision had yet been taken. She said there would be a consultation with parents and staff before the schools moved to academy status.

To date it is believed only Wilson's School has made a formal application to become an academy.

Councillor Kirsty Jerome, executive member for education and schools at Sutton Council, said: “We continue to ask for assurance from the Government that no resident will be disadvantaged as a result of the academies scheme and that every child will receive a fair deal.”

The teacher's letter in full: Academies have no better record of educational achievement than any other type of school.

Michael Gove claims more than a third of academies have seen their GCSE results rise.

He does not mention a third of the 74 academies who have entered pupils for GCSEs in the past two or more years have seen their results fall.

There have also been academies that have failed Ofsted inspections.

There is no requirement for academies to follow nationally-agreed pay and conditions, or even employ qualified teachers.

We are already receiving reports of schools using teaching assistants to deliver lessons without a teacher present.

Parents who are not satisfied with any aspect of their child’s education in an academy have no external avenue of complaint, as they can to the local authority now.

Schools may see the carrot of extra money if they become academies.

However, there is no actual additional funding, the only monies will be taken from the funds the local authority holds for central services, including support for pupils with special educational needs.

Opted-out schools will still have to buy in services, for example insurance services, that may well be more expensive away from the economies of scale offered to all local authority schools.

As an academy, should anything go wrong – for example the boiler blowing up or an expensive legal challenge – all costs will be down to the school’s budget, and the governors’ own liability.

Academies are run either by governors – who are appointed not elected – or by an outside sponsor, often a business for profit. They are not accountable to an authority or to the community.

Sutton teachers say keep Sutton schools for Sutton pupils – and accountable to the people of Sutton.