Free schools – the biggest over-hyped load of cobblers ever?
From the Guardian
Michael Gove, the education secretary, will next week be forced to announce a dramatic scaling back of the Tories’ landmark plans to create a new generation of schools run by parents and voluntary groups.
Labour tonight accused the education secretary of presiding over a “chaotic shambles” after it emerged that as few as 20 free schools are on track to open in September 2011. In June Gove hinted that 700 could be established.
That says it all.
I have nothing against Free Schools. Indeed, I am all for them. But what I have a problem with is the way Michael Gove has built them up into being a massive “silver bullet” which is going to revolutionise schooling in this country.
It’s all been complete codswallop from beginning to end. Parents don’t want to run schools – in general – as the numbers above show.
By his behaviour on this matter, Michael Gove has been shown to have extremely poor judgment. He should stop chasing rainbows and knuckle down to doing the basic work needed to run our education system.
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5 Responses to “Free schools – the biggest over-hyped load of cobblers ever?”
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Burbler-in-chief
Now thats interesting if our experience is anything to go by. Our eldest son is a so-so primary school with middling results. We’d like to explore the options of taking it out of the State system. Yet we’re confronted with a headmaster who won’t even consider it and a soporific Governing board pliant to the headmasters wishes. I now feel like I want to be like Militant (happy days), infiltrate the Governors and have some information passed to parents for them to decide, not some tunnel visioned functionary like the present headmaster. I think its the educational inetria at local Government level thats the stumbling block, not parental disengagement.
You could well be right. I wish you luck. I’ve seen a situation where parents got too much power at a school and the result was a terrible situation. One of the problems is that parents are only involved in schools for about 6 years – 15 years tops if they have several kids – whereas schools need somewhat of a longer view.
The Guardian is being a bit mischievous here, though to be fair Michael Gove has been so accident-prone that he hardly helps himself. It was never reasonable to expect that many free schools would open by September 2011, because it’s only a few months until parents have to apply for places starting then. What parents would apply to a school which doesn’t even have a building yet? And what parents would apply to a school that hasn’t yet got official permission from the Department for Education or clear funding rules? As the Economist points out, September 2012 is a more reasonable date to expect new schools to open: http://www.economist.com/node/16945031
In any case, as you point out yourself, you don’t have to believe that free schools are a silver bullet to support them. My personal opinion is that free schools can “level up” the quality of schooling by making the worst state schools face competition, but they can’t transform standards on their own. (See my Lib Dem Voice post on that.) For that you need much more rigorous teacher training and lower turnover of teachers so that the average teacher has more experience.
P.S. A modified version of the draft amendment linked from the LDV post has been submitted to Conference Committee – will you be at Conference? I think the debate will be very interesting.
P.P.S. At least half of the groups that have expressed an interest (not to Gove: not “applied”!) in starting a free school are groups of teachers, who clearly are qualified and interested in running schools.
Thank you Niklas and well done for your amendment. Saldy domestic matters prevent me attending conference this year.