“Free Schools”—the end of comprehensive education?

· By Pedro Diogo

I admit I’ve never been a fan of Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Education) and his ‘Free Schools’ programme, which I’m reluctant to call ‘Academies’. This programme has distanced me even further from his policies and made me question the direction of educational policy in this country.

Little less than a decade ago, Tony Blair introduced the controversial City Academies Programme: this was largely aimed at failing secondary schools, who needed to have standards raised. Most were sponsored by businesses and were free of Local Authority control, although they had to adhere to the core National Curriculum.

Shortly after taking office as Education Secretary in May, Michael Gove gave in to the pressure of the so called ‘middle-class-pushy-parents’, such as Toby Young who wants to set up a Free School in Ealing. Mr Gove’s Bill, which has now become law allows parents and the local community to setup a school in their area, on their own and can expect to receive as much, if not more funding than the local comprehensive.

The most absurd thing is that there is very little—and dare I say no—control over how many schools are setup in an area, or what the curriculum for these schools will be. I fear that the complete freedom and disparity between what subjects students are taught in different schools may make these schools elitist and exclude those who haven’t been brought up on the readings of Shakespeare and the teachings of Plato...

I wonder whether anyone has thought that this system may actually widen the attainment gap between the poor and the rich? Those who can pay for their children to attend Public school and those who struggle to put food on the table? Are Free Schools, now confusingly branded ‘Academies’ the state-maintained versions of Eton and Harrow? Are taxpayers going to pay for the middle-class, private-like education of the few?  I fear the answer may be ‘yes’ and that soon we’ll be investing more money into Free Schools than in the comprehensive, nationally-standardised system that has been the pillar of state education for the past forty years. Sad.