AET describes itself as "the education provider of choice for students" and as a "trailblazer in education." According to the "Local Schools Network," AET "choice" is looking hollow and trailblazing is looking more like a scorched earth strategy on the Isle of Wight. Councillor Whitehouse has gone so far as to argue that the conduct of Academies Enterprise Trust falls so far below what the public should be able to expect of an Academy Chain that AET are simply not "fit" to run schools, and that they are actually bringing the entire government sponsored academies programme into disrepute because of their "incompetence." However, AET should not be underestimated as they have demonstrated one unique ability: creating a "catastrophic breakdown in confidence" of them which united politicians across the entire spectrum of political opinion in the 2017 general election. Whilst the politicians couldn't agree on anything else, the one thing they could agree on was that AET needed to be removed from the Isle of Wight.
