October 2011

The know zone

  • From barred to worse
    Why don’t legislators pay more attention to the facts when they attempt to adjust the law on exclusions, wonders Richard Bird. More
  • Lead vocals
    Quotes from Pericles the Olympian, John W Gardner, Sam Ewing, Joan Wallach Scott and Florence Nightingale More
  • Life lessons
    Keith Sudbury spent 31 years in education, the last ten as head of two schools in Nottinghamshire that he successfully led out of special measures. His retirement plans were overtaken by a tragic family illness, however, and he’s back in schools again to inform teenagers about blood, stem cell and organ donation with the support of the Anthony Nolan charity. More
  • A safety .net
    Trainee teachers and NQTs are the focus of the latest set of resources from award-winning charity Childnet. More
  • Adding value
    On the piste? Check the smallprint... More
  • Concerns over 'free' status
    Is the government right to pursue its policy of free schools? Many in education have expressed scepticism but are there contexts in which free schools are beneficial? Leaders share their views. More
  • Nomograms: they're not what you think...
    Think spreadsheets are tricky? Bamboozled by equations? Sam Ellis has an old-fa shioned technique for calculating pupil-teacher ratios which just might help. More
  • Focussing on new benefits
    Social mobility needs to focus on more than getting disadvantaged students into university. Changes to curriculum and qualifications need to help tackle the problem and should draw on the experience of school and college leaders first and foremost, says Brian Lightman. More
  • Deal or no deal?
    The nerd? The idler? The incessant sniffer? Find out who’s coming with this game of student teacher top trumps. More
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Is the government right to pursue its policy of free schools? Many in education have expressed scepticism but are there contexts in which free schools are beneficial? Leaders share their views.

Concerns over 'free' schools

Localised issue

I have real concerns about free schools. First, there is the lack of accountability. Second is the fact that money is coming out of the education budget to pay for schools where there is already over-capacity. Third, there is the effect of selection through the back door of other local schools.

Finally, I am worried about the freedoms these schools have to employ unqualified staff and the impact that it could have on standards. Overall, school places and quality need to be locally managed. This cannot be the case where free schools exist.

Paul Scutt
Headteacher,
Bishop Fox’s School, Taunton

Vital evidence ignored

I can understand why the government sees the establishment of free schools as an important ideological statement of intent. As a headline policy it does respond to parental or interest group concerns about a lack of choice within the system.


But the government has not yet published evidence that free schools are being established in areas which lack adequate or good quality provision. So I do not understand how these schools will drive up standards in the short term.

There is a now very considerable body of experience and expertise about how successfully to raise standards, even in the most challenging circumstances. Worryingly, the free schools established do not seem to have engaged with this expertise at all.

David Sheppard
Headteacher, The Charter School, London

Why don’t you trust us?

I am not in favour of free schools. They cannot be efficient in terms of resources and they will also reduce the amount of resource going into state schools. I am also unhappy about the lack of requirement to follow the National Curriculum and to employ qualified teachers.


There is another question mark over how Ofsted will assess free schools. Will they have to be judged on the same criteria as we all are?

I am heartily sick of state schools being given such a hard time by each new Secretary of State for Education. When is anyone going to start trusting our professional judgement? It is an insult to think that simply because someone is a parent they can run a school and deliver an adequate learning agenda.

Cassie Ellins
Principal, Upper Shirley High, Southampton

At loggerheads...

The coalition government has the dilemma of education being both an economic driver and an economic drain. The country needs a talented, well educated workforce in order to compete in the future global market place. It wants to drive down costs and make education more efficient by encouraging new entrants into the education market, a market which has slowly developed over the last 35 years. Free schools are its latest example.

If the government’s intention is to operate education as a true market it will have to allow failing schools to close and for-profit, free schools to open. The education secretary and the deputy prime minister are at loggerheads with regard to the latter.

David Irving,
Interim school business manager, Wanstead High School, London

Sweet dreams?

Last night I dreamt that a government minister was suggesting people open their own police stations. They could be in any disused building, funded from the current police budget, and staffed by anyone interested.

Then I realised he was talking about the NHS. His proposal was that people be able to open their own hospital, funded by monies from the health budget, in any empty shop or petrol station. He recommended that untrained staff be hired as they would be cheaper.

But no, it is education being discussed with the minister proposing to take funding from the budgets of other schools and give it to people to open their own school. Staff need not be qualified and any empty shop or office could be used.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke to the morning headlines: free schools are a reality!

Sean Hayes,
Headteacher, St John Fisher Catholic High School, Peterborough

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