tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/free-schools-7596/articlesfree schools – The Conversation2022-04-26T18:05:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1818472022-04-26T18:05:54Z2022-04-26T18:05:54ZKibaki’s Kenya education legacy: well-intentioned, with disastrous consequences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459426/original/file-20220425-12-tcmyi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kenya’s former president Mwai Kibaki, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/mwai-kibaki-president-who-squandered-the-opportunity-to-fix-kenya-141631">died last week</a>, was widely praised for his economic transformation of Kenya, first as finance minister from 1969 to 1982 and then as the third president of Kenya from 2002 to 2013. </p>
<p>But Kibaki also left an enduring legacy on Kenya’s education sector. </p>
<p>Kibaki left his mark on education in two areas: the widening of access to education and the embrace of a business-style model for universities. </p>
<p>When Kibaki came to office, there was an education access crisis in both basic and higher education. </p>
<p>Numerous charges introduced by schools (such as building funds and activity fees) had increased the cost of education for the poor. Primary school enrolment was around <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.19044/ejes.v5no1a2">86%</a> but, in 2002, the transition rate, from primary to secondary school stood at <a href="https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/10300.pdf">just 46%</a>. </p>
<p>The growing demand for university education, due to population growth, limited access to only those who had performed exceptionally well in secondary education. Furthermore, university governance and operations had been constrained by political interference by the political class. </p>
<p>Kibaki’s goals were to expand access both in primary and university education, and to make universities more efficient and self-sustaining by reforming management and commercialising them. </p>
<p>These contributions, though positive, also had their drawbacks. </p>
<h2>Free primary education</h2>
<p>When he took office as president in 2003, Kibaki launched the widely praised <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/free-primary-education-policy-freed-many-from-ignorance-124677/">Free Primary Education</a> programme. Under it, all fees in primary schools were abolished. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Primary school fees were first abolished in 1978 but, due to declining state support, schools introduced a myriad of non-tuition fees. This defeated the goal of free primary education.</p>
<p>Kibaki’s government strategy <a href="https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/files/ressources/kenya_kessp_final_2005.pdf">allocated</a> each public school grants based on student enrolment. This allowed them to buy textbooks and meet other operational costs. This meant <a href="https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/files/ressources/kenya_kessp_final_2005.pdf">increasing</a> the education budget from 12.4% of the national budget in 2004 to 17.4% in 2005.</p>
<p>The Free Primary Education programme <a href="https://wenr.wes.org/2015/06/education-kenya">enabled</a> millions of poor children to enroll in school. It is estimated that primary school enrolment <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/july-2005/giant-step-kenya%E2%80%99s-schools">rose from</a> 6 million in 2000 to 7.4 million in 2004. </p>
<p>Free Primary Education was, and continues to be, a noble program that addresses equality in primary education access. Nevertheless, its implementation had disastrous consequences for equity and quality in education. </p>
<p>No extra classrooms were built nor additional teachers hired. This resulted in overcrowded classrooms with overworked teachers. Indeed, the teacher-student ratio <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015571488">increased from</a> one teacher to 40 students, to one teacher for 60 students. The deterioration of quality of public schools became evident and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-bad-economics-of-free-primary-education/">poor performance</a> in national exams proved this. </p>
<p>Those that could afford it, removed their children from well-performing public schools and enrolled them in expensive private academies. It is during Kibaki’s regime that the country saw the rise of high-cost private schools populated by scions of the middle and upper class. Indeed, enrolment in private academies <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-bad-economics-of-free-primary-education/">almost tripled</a> between 2005 to 2009 from 4.4% to 10.5%.</p>
<p>I also believe it nurtured an education entrepreneurial class whose interest in education was merely profit rather than the overall education of the child.</p>
<p>Equally troubling for Free Private Education programme was the weak financial oversight that resulted in massive theft of public funds. While some reports in 2009 <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/exposed-how-officials-looted-schools-millions--618150?view=htmlamp">indicated</a> that Ksh.178 million (US$1.54 million) of the program’s funds were squandered by senior education officials and headteachers, other reports <a href="https://kenyastockholm.com/2011/12/27/kibakis-free-primary-education-how-funds-were-looted-part-2/">estimate</a> that billions could have been stolen. </p>
<p>Upon his election in 2002, president Kibaki had declared corruption <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/war-against-corruption-kenya">would cease</a> to be a way of life in his government. However Kibaki’s vaunted anti-graft campaign found its waterloo in his pet education project.</p>
<h2>Commercialisation of universities</h2>
<p>Kibaki’s reform footprints in education are also still evident the university sector. Kibaki’s presidential term saw the greatest expansion of public university education in the country. When he took office, Kenya had only six public universities. When he left in 2013 the number had grown to 22. Most of the 17 (77%) public universities were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015612519">established in one year</a>, between 2012-2013. </p>
<p>Student enrolment <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1083615.pdf">grew</a> from 71,832 in 2003 to <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20140508075050866">195,428</a> in 2013. Kibaki valued access to quality higher education as the key drive to economic growth. He <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20130208120627703">argued</a> that Kenya’s university education should be benchmarked against global standards and market needs.</p>
<p>Kibaki’s ultimate aim for universities was that they raise their own revenue and be less dependent on government. Hitherto, public universities depended on state funding for development, maintenance and operations supplemented by a modest state-regulated student tuition fees. </p>
<p>To do this, he commercialised universities and set about infusing them with corporate-style governance structures. He depoliticised the chancellorship by appointing corporate leaders and scholars as public university chancellors. This was a dramatic break from the past. His predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, was the chancellor of all the public universities. </p>
<p>In this new leadership structure, Kibaki expected policies and decisions in the universities be driven by financial and academic considerations rather than political calculations. This meant universities also had to plan for resources that would come from elsewhere, rather than the exchequer.</p>
<p>It is policy that saw public universities launch a range of initiatives in a bid to commercialise their operations. Ventures included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>academic programmes that included parallel programs, that is, admission of additional self-sponsored students who paid higher tuition fees beyond the normal government-funded students </p></li>
<li><p>the creation of mortuaries: medical schools in universities started offering body mortuary services to the public at a fee </p></li>
<li><p>establishment of branch campuses to admit more fee-paying self-sponsored students beyond the immediate location of the main university</p></li>
</ul>
<p>But Kibaki’s vision of vibrant well-resourced public universities raising additional revenues to supplement government grants failed to materialise. </p>
<p>Today, many public universities are on the brink of financial insolvency with debts to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10949">tune of</a> Ksh10 billion (US$87 million). Many are unable to meet basic operating expenses.</p>
<p>But these university reforms had unintended consequences. Their extensive commercialisation of universities and expanded access resulted in decline in quality of learning, a challenge that still haunts the universities today. </p>
<p>In 2016, the government <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2016.86.9370">had to reverse</a> course and outlaw branch campuses and parallel programs to stem the tide of quality decline. </p>
<p>Significantly, Kibaki’s expansion of public universities was in response to demand by ethnic groups for a campus in their jurisdiction. Thus, while he espoused corporate-style management of universities, his expansion strategy was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2012.18">laced</a> with ethnic politics of university ownership. He awarded charters for establishment of public universities in response to pressure from ethnic groups seeking universities in their locality. </p>
<h2>In pursuit of the impossible</h2>
<p>The benefits of Kibaki’s education reforms were less obvious than many of the transformative economic blueprint which delivered considerable benefits to the country. </p>
<p>He wanted to achieve the impossible in education: pursue equity through expanded access while infusing excellence through neoliberalism. But the lack of a focused and clear strategy only magnified the unintended consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181847/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kibaki’s goals were to expand access to education, and to make universities more efficient and self-sustaining.Ishmael Munene, Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954432018-05-30T13:28:48Z2018-05-30T13:28:48ZWhy funding alone can’t shake up Kenya’s school transition rate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220784/original/file-20180529-80650-1a1p64x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students in a Nairobi slum school. There are more than monetary barriers for parents from poor neighbourhoods. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Dai Kurokawa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ten years ago Kenya abolished tuition fees for children attending its secondary day schools. The <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Full-free-day-secondary-education/2643604-4175706-leh7cbz/index.html">aim</a> was to get more children to transition into secondary school, particularly those from low income households. </p>
<p>Day schools, unlike boarding schools, don’t provide accommodation for learners. Instead, learners come to school in the morning and leave for home at the end of the day. The government backed measure has <a href="http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/59538">achieved some success</a> as enrolment numbers have improved since 2008.</p>
<p>The latest available statistics from 2016 show that the net enrolment rates in secondary school was 51.3%, up from 28.9% in 2008. <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/node/334718">Net enrolment</a> is the official age-group of school going children for a given level of education expressed as a percentage of the corresponding population. </p>
<p>But there have been ongoing concerns that the programme hasn’t achieved its objectives and earlier this year the government adjusted it again.
The subsidy per student per year now stands at <a href="http://acdc.co.ke/feed-items/day-special-schools-win-big-in-kenya-subsidy-programme/">more than twice the original level</a> introduced in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059311000101">2008</a>.</p>
<p>The problem with the original programme was that it didn’t cover the numerous additional fees demanded of students. These include caution money – to cover damage to school property — and contributions to fund new school facilities. In addition, the cost of lunch and uniforms continued to be a barrier for students enrolling in secondary school. </p>
<p>Even with the recent subsidy increase, these levies will continue to be charged. This means that they’ll remain a barrier to secondary school transition and retention rates for Kenyan children. </p>
<p>According to education researcher Asayo Ohba, levies to join day secondary schools <a href="http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA21.pdf">cost about eight times</a> the average monthly income of an employed parent, 12–17 times of a self-employed parent, and 19–20 times of a peasant parent engaged in casual work.</p>
<p>But there are more than monetary barriers for parents from poor neighbourhoods. Our findings from two projects run by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in partnership with community organisations in Nairobi’s informal settlements show that support from families, mentorship and after school interventions can make a <a href="http://aphrc.org/post/8075">dramatic difference</a>. As a result of these kinds of interventions we found that the retention rates among girls went up by a fifth over a three year period.</p>
<h2>Barriers</h2>
<p>While the government’s initiative is well-intentioned, many children are still unable to attend secondary school because they’re locked out by other non-school fee items. </p>
<p>Enrolment is also differentiated by region. The Coast region, for example, has one of the lowest enrolments in the country. This region located in south-east Kenya, extends inland from the Indian Ocean coastline and has the tourist resort towns of Mombasa, Malindi and Lamu. </p>
<p>To address the low enrolment rates, the government launched the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001266582/from-bad-to-worse-why-fewer-coast-students-are-joining-form-one">“Peleka Mtoto Shule”</a> initiative earlier this year, and called on parents and community members to ensure that children who had completed primary school were enrolled in secondary school. </p>
<p>But it doesn’t seem to have worked. By the time the deadline for admission closed in mid-January, only <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001266582/from-bad-to-worse-why-fewer-coast-students-are-joining-form-one">27% of Form One students had reported to school</a> in the region. Form One is the first year of secondary school.</p>
<p>A number of reasons were put forward for the low turnout. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the long distances pupils have to travel to get to school</p></li>
<li><p>insecurity due to crime and the continued threat from terrorist-linked groups, </p></li>
<li><p>parents who couldn’t afford the portion of school fees they’re still required to pay, and </p></li>
<li><p>inadequate money for non-fee items such as uniform, notebooks, stationery, and sanitary items.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Community participation</h2>
<p>The two interventions initiated by APHRC sought to improve and advance learning outcomes and transition to secondary school through community participation. The intervention activities consisted of: after-school support with homework in literacy and numeracy; <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-partnerships-enriched-the-learning-for-nairobi-slum-children-77501">life skills mentorship; leadership skills training</a>; parental guidance and counselling; as well as support to students achieving certain scores in the Kenya Certificate for Primary Education exam. </p>
<p>The programme involved parents at every stage of the implementation process. The initial phase which ran from 2013 to 2015 consisted of girls only. </p>
<p>After about three years the transition rates among girls improved by up to 20 percentage points. </p>
<p>The experience has provided useful insights. One is that it may not be enough to direct more money towards solving education issues. Subsidies must be accompanied by interventions that actually address barriers faced by poor people, such as those that hinder transition to secondary school among the poor.</p>
<p>And it’s not enough simply to issue policy directives with the assumption that implementation can be controlled by a central authority. The project suggests that getting more children into secondary school requires striking a balance between top-down policy pronouncements and bottom-up implementation approaches. A <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1164357.pdf">bottom up approach</a> would require intensive involvement of teachers, pupils, principals, parents, and board members.</p>
<p>_Mwangi Chege, the Policy Engagement Manager APHRC, contributed to this work.
_</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benta A. Abuya is affiliated with African Population and Health Research center (APHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurice Mutisya is affiliated with African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC).
</span></em></p>Getting more children into secondary school in Kenya requires striking a balance between top-down policy and bottom-up implementation.Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterMaurice Mutisya, PhD candidate, Public Health, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/665192016-10-10T16:41:24Z2016-10-10T16:41:24ZTheresa May’s plans to relax faith school admissions will do nothing for social justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140888/original/image-20161007-21447-1kanoz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mixed response to May's faith school plan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With competition for school places set to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-pupil-projections-trends-in-pupil-numbers-july-2015">intensify over the next decade</a>, the government’s recent <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone/supporting_documents/SCHOOLS%20THAT%20WORK%20FOR%20EVERYONE%20FINAL.pdf">proposal</a> to relax admissions rules for new faith schools has been met with mixed responses. While the move to allow new faith schools to select all of their pupils by religion has been <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/faith-schools-welcome-100-faith-based-admissions/">welcomed by many religious schools</a>, others have expressed fears that allowing schools to select their entire intake by faith will lead to <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/removing-faith-selection-cap-will-increase-segregation-say-humanists/">increased segregation</a>.</p>
<p>The 50% cap on religious admissions was introduced in 2010, and has led to a situation where new faith schools (post 2010) can only select half of their pupils based on religion, whereas established faith schools (pre 2010) have continued to be able to religiously select up to 100% of their intake. Although not all of the schools that are still able to religiously choose all of their pupils actually do so. </p>
<p>In her “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/britain-the-great-meritocracy-prime-ministers-speech">great meritocracy</a>” speech, Theresa May argued that the current 50% cap on these new faith schools “is failing in its objective to promote integration” because minority faith schools do not attract pupils of other or no faith.</p>
<p>And in one sense, this is correct. Data from the <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone/supporting_documents/SCHOOLS%20THAT%20WORK%20FOR%20EVERYONE%20FINAL.pdf">School Census</a> shows there is little ethnic mixing in minority religious free schools. These are schools for groups that tend to experience high levels of societal discrimination – such as Muslim or Jewish schools. The communities these schools serve are often stigmatised by society – so it is foolish to think that a cap alone could solve problems faced by these groups.</p>
<p>This said, <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016-09-15-FINAL-Ethnic-diversity-in-religious-Free-Schools.pdf">data</a> from religiously selective secondary schools shows that Christian free schools which have the 50% cap in place actually have greater levels of ethnic diversity than fully selective Christian schools.</p>
<h2>Religious selection</h2>
<p>To allow new schools to religiously select 100% of their pupils is not only problematic in terms of social integration, it is also unfair. Particularly given that faith schools claim to offer <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/12043152/Primary-School-league-tables-Faith-schools-have-tight-grip-on-rankings.html">better quality education</a> and <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ioep/clre/2005/00000003/00000001/art00005?crawler=true">higher attainment levels</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the way in which faith schools deliver the religious aspect of the curriculum has started to change. Although faith schools aim to provide a good general education and introduce children to the beliefs and practices of a particular faith, many opponents claim that the second aim is “<a href="http://tre.sagepub.com/content/1/1/89">indoctrinatory</a>”. To try and address this, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13617672.2016.1141532?journalCode=cjbv20">faith educators</a> have increasingly turned away from traditional “confessional” <a href="http://ice.sagepub.com/content/17/2/285.abstract">religious instruction</a> and have instead moved towards an education that considers religion from a more open perspective – allowing children to make up their own minds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The government’s decision to lift the 50% cap on faith-based admissions to new free schools prompted differing reactions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This means the education that many faith schools now offer is more accessible to pupils with other religions, or to those with no faith. And <a href="http://faithdebates.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/WFD-Faith-Schools-Press-Release.pdf">recent research</a> shows that the “faith aspect” of faith schooling matters far less to those contemplating school choice than academic standards, location or discipline.</p>
<h2>Priority pupils</h2>
<p>The prime minister has failed to notice this change in attitudes towards faith education and has even cited the Catholic Church’s view on the cap as another reason to abandon it. The church argues that not prioritising children from Catholic backgrounds contravenes the rules of the church – known as “<a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/news/ces-news/item/1003609-catholic-church-welcomes-prime-minister-s-removal-of-the-cap-on-faith-admissions">Canon law</a>”. </p>
<p>The church’s position eventually led to <a href="http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/st-marys-college-crosby-abandons-7116064">the abandonment of a free school application</a> from a fee paying school – St Mary’s College in Crosby. In this case, the Archdiocese of Liverpool refused to support a bid because of the cap.</p>
<p>But the <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionpublicsphere/2016/09/the-governments-changes-to-faith-schools-sides-with-hardline-religion/">claim about Canon law is disputed</a> – with critics noting there are many <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/5k9fq23507vc.pdf?expires=1475767680&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=05CD7293462499EE1976CDFB3C74EE50">non-selective Catholic schools elsewhere</a> in the world. <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/2016/09/09/exposed-catholic-hypocrisy-in-calls-for-end-to-restrictions-on-religious-selection-in-schools/">Private Catholic schools</a> are also far less likely to select on religious grounds than those in the state sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">May made the announcement as part of a major overhaul of secondary education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The abandonment of the cap is based on a concern to meet a need for additional school places, but the logic is flawed. This is because the school places the policy will provide will only be available to a small subset of pupils – and the families who need the places most will probably not benefit from these new schools at all. </p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03054980903072611">Evidence</a> suggests that – despite the Catholic Church’s claim its schools are more <a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/news/ces-news/item/1002818-new-research-shows-catholic-schools-are-more-ethnically-diverse-and-higher-performing-than-national-averages">socially and ethnically diverse</a> than the national average – faith schools are more likely to admit pupils from <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/doi/10.1080/01411926.2010.489145/epdf">affluent families</a> or with <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/doi/10.1080/01411926.2010.489145/epdf">higher levels of prior attainment</a> than <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Caught-Out_Research-brief_April-16.pdf">nondenominational schools</a>. </p>
<h2>Exclusive education</h2>
<p>It is clear that advocates of faith based education now face a dilemma. Either they maintain that faith schools can provide “non-indoctrinatory” education – which is accessible, attractive and valuable to families of all denominations. Or they argue for a distinctive form of religious instruction – which would only be suitable for children of faith. Only schools of the second sort can adequately justify religiously selective admissions. But given that public attitudes to the funding of separate schools <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/14/taxpayers-should-not-fund-faith-schools">have hardened in recent years</a>– and the extent to which indoctrination is considered “morally unacceptable” – such schools would be unlikely to win public support.</p>
<p>Admissions policies fundamentally determine who becomes part of a school’s student body. So the role that higher levels of religious selection could play in worsening social injustice – by “creaming off” the best, most motivated or wealthiest pupils – should not be underestimated.</p>
<p>If the positive outcomes associated with faith schools could be directly linked to the religiosity of pupils, it might be possible to defend the policy to admit higher proportions of children from faith backgrounds. </p>
<p>But, in the absence of compelling evidence to support this, the only other way to justify religious selection is to show there is something distinctive about faith education – something which makes it exclusively of worth to pupils from religious families. Unfortunately for supporters of fully religiously selective schools, it’s difficult to show this is the case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Wareham is a Researcher at the University of Warwick where her current academic post is funded by the Spencer Foundation. She is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p>Allowing new faith schools to religiously select 100% of their pupils is not only problematic in terms of social integration, it is simply unfair.Ruth Wareham, Research Assistant, Faith Schooling: Principles & Policies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/546262016-06-15T09:35:14Z2016-06-15T09:35:14ZBeware the digital entrepreneurs who are opening their own schools<p>To children who love computer games, it could be a dream come true. In early February, Nicky Morgan, secretary of state for education, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/games-workshop-founder-and-entrepreneur-to-open-2-free-schools">announced plans</a> to open two new free schools focusing on computer programming skills in 2017. The schools – in London and Bournemouth – are founded by Ian Livingstone, a video-games entrepreneur, who was also a major player in the recent introduction of computing as a subject in the English national curriculum.</p>
<p>Livingstone’s involvement in schools shows once again how <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19460171.2015.1052003">education policy is being influenced</a> by high-profile business people. In the process, they are transforming the role of the school: making it more like a business than a democratically governed public institution.</p>
<p>Alongside the controversial Department of Education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508447/Educational_Excellence_Everywhere.pdf">white paper</a> proposal to encourage all schools to join multi-academy trusts and replace parent governors with professionals, the two new schools – called Livingstone Academies – are typical of the future direction of school governance: more private influence, and <a href="http://www.democraticaudit.com/?p=20584">less democratic community engagement</a>. </p>
<h2>Lobbying education</h2>
<p>Livingstone is known best for his role as a video-games entrepreneur who launched the successful Tomb Raider franchise while executive chairman of Eidos. Wired magazine named him one of the most <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/07/features/wired-100-the-list/page/2">influential people</a> in the UK’s digital economy.</p>
<p>In 2011, Livingstone co-authored a report called <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/next-gen">Next Gen</a> with researchers from the charity <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/">Nesta</a>, which supports growth in the digital sector. Their report demanded more “rigorous teaching of computing in schools” and recommended putting computer science into the national curriculum for schools in England. Commissioned by Ed Vaizey, then minister for culture, communications and the creative industries, it was intended as a review of the skills needs of the video-games and visual effects industries, long seen as economically valuable sectors of the UK economy. </p>
<p>The subsequent formation of a <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/23/ict-curriculum-ian-livingstone">Next Gen Skills lobbying coalition</a> including Nesta, Google, and Microsoft, finally convinced the Department for Education to support the development of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study">a new computing curriculum</a> in 2013. Livingstone himself remains chair of the group, working with Nesta to create partnerships between industry, policy and educators.</p>
<p>Livingstone’s Academies extend his influence from demand-side policy lobbying to direct supply-side management of educational institutions.</p>
<h2>Start-up schools</h2>
<p>Planned to open in partnership with the <a href="http://www.aspirationsacademies.org/">Aspirations Academies Trust</a> – a successful multi-academy trust that is itself partnered with the US-based <a href="http://www.qisa.org/about/">Quaglia Institute</a> – the Livingstone Academies focus on the “creative application of digital technologies”. Their <a href="http://www.livingstone-aspirations.org/">aim</a> is to equip students with: “The skills and qualifications required to play an active and successful role in today’s knowledge-based, interdependent, highly competitive, fast-changing digital world.”</p>
<p>The schools’ website says that the schools will be run in “partnership with the digital industry to ensure that students gain the skills and knowledge that are central to a successful life as a digital citizen in modern Europe”. In practice, the schools feature specialist facilities such as science labs, design studios, and even on-site “business hubs for start-up and tech businesses”.</p>
<p>The emphasis on preparing young people for work and citizenship in the digital economy reinforces many of the key demands that Livingstone himself has been making while overseeing Next Gen. </p>
<p>This is clearly a successful campaign from a political perspective. In the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/games-workshop-founder-and-entrepreneur-to-open-2-free-schools">government press release</a> announcing the new schools, Morgan said: “The free schools programme is proving to be a vital outlet for our society’s most creative and innovative people to spread their excellence to future generations.”</p>
<p>Livingstone said he hoped his move would: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Encourage other digital entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity offered by the free schools programme in helping to give children an authentic education for the jobs and opportunities of the digital world.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Policy entrepreneurs</h2>
<p>The establishment of the Livingstone Academies is part of a wider education reform movement both in the UK and the US. Businesses and entrepreneurs are currently jumping on new schools policies to push their own interests in education, often through charitable foundations and trusts as well as lobbying organisations. Impatient with the slow pace of educational change, US entrepreneurs from computing companies such as Google and IBM have even created their own alternative <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2016.1186710">start-up schools</a> instead. The Livingstone Academies demonstrate how free school policies and multi-academy trust proposals are now making entrepreneurial influence more possible in English schools.</p>
<p>In this political context, charitable business people such as Livingstone are becoming important policy entrepreneurs. They are able to influence national policy through lobbying, and run schools according to private interests at the same time. As with the computing curriculum more generally, the Livingstone Academies are being set up to meet government agendas around the digital economy. These agendas are being steered by entrepreneurs such as Livingstone, and will be met by running schools more like businesses where pupils are taught to become little digital entrepreneurs of the future. </p>
<p>Current policies make it increasingly possible and desirable for business entrepreneurs to both demand and supply educational reforms. Working via charitable trusts and foundations, private hands appear poised to displace democratic discussion and collaboration in schooling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is based on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (reference ES/L001160/1). </span></em></p>The influence of private interests in English schools is on the up.Ben Williamson, Lecturer in Education, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/549292016-02-18T11:43:00Z2016-02-18T11:43:00ZWhat does the head of Ofsted do?<p>Ministers <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12156541/Ministers-looking-abroad-for-new-chief-inspector-of-schools.html">are thought to be looking</a> to the US, Canada and northern Europe in their search for the next chief inspector of schools. With the current head of Ofsted, Michael Wilshaw, due to step down in December at the end of his term, secretary of state Nicky Morgan is reportedly keen to find someone with a track record of pushing through education reform against resistance from unions. </p>
<p>The idea that a new head of Ofsted brought in from a totally different cultural context will somehow be able to wave a magic wand over English education is not only both misguided and myopic, but shows a fundamental ignorance of what Ofsted was set up to do.</p>
<p>Being the head of Ofsted has never been an easy role. The chief inspector must both protect the agency’s robust independence and negotiate the tricky path of government policy. This has led to considerable tension within the job ever since Ofsted was established in 1992.</p>
<p>Deciding on a new chief inspector would be a little more straightforward if the government could decide what Ofsted is actually for. Set up as one of the quangos that formed part of John Major’s Citizen Charter, it <a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?k=9781447326021">was designed to arm</a> parents with more accessible information on schools in order for them to choose where to send their children. </p>
<p>Its central tenet is to “inspect without fear or favour”, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/21/michael-wilshaw-ofsted-speech-ascl">a mantra</a> that has been used over the years to stress its separation from government and lack of political or pedagogical partiality when it comes to teaching methods or approach.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"698798732792438784"}"></div></p>
<p>Since 1992, government pressure has seen it vacillate between being a regulatory body, school improvement agency and more recently, as the implementer of <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-on-the-frontline-against-terror-what-should-schools-do-about-radicalisation-43942">counter-terrorism policy</a>. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted/about">It has a vast remit</a>, tasked with regulating all services that care for children and young people, such as children’s centres and childminding, along with education and skills providers for learners of all ages.</p>
<h2>Pulled in many directions</h2>
<p>During Wilshaw’s tenure at the head of Ofsted he has been the subject of intense media scrutiny. He began the role in January 2012, appointed with optimistic zeal by then secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-chief-inspector-to-be-appointed">and fêted</a> as a personification of outstanding educational leadership. Wilshaw had been praised for his ability to create an outstanding school in an area of high deprivation – the Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney. </p>
<p>He began by introducing a far more “rigorous” inspection framework, combining this with a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/22/school-inspections-ofsted-must-improve">re-modelling of the inspection workforce</a> to include more headteacher as inspectors. This was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/18/headteachers-ofsted-inspectors-accountability">a move aimed to counter accusations</a> that many inspectors were out of touch as they had been out of school for a number of years. </p>
<p>At first, he appeared to align with much government policy and became accused of being <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/23/chief-inspector-schools-michael-wilshaw">“far too” cosy with government agenda</a>. But a series of very public spats between Wilshaw and Gove proved him to be far more obdurate and less pliable than the media originally portrayed him to be. </p>
<p>These arguments, which reached a crescendo <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25900547">with a vitriolic attack</a> on Ofsted by a right-wing thinktank, were largely the result of Wilshaw’s growing discontent with <a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781447326021&dtspan=0:90&ds=Forthcoming%20Titles&m=12&dc=47">the very limited accountability</a> of free schools and academies – the government’s flagship education reform to give more autonomy to schools. This was a discontent that proved to be well-founded following the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/473/47304.htm">report into the Trojan Horse Affair</a> over extremist influence in Birmingham schools, which detailed just how dire and fragmented educational accountability in England has become.</p>
<h2>Bellwether of educational change</h2>
<p>The role of chief inspector is as powerful as the agency it represents, functioning as “the voice” of the organisation, speaking to both teaching profession and public. Some of Wilshaw’s predecessors embraced the public aspect of the role more than others – none more so than the late <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/23/sir-chris-woodhead">Chris Woodhead</a>. He positioned the role at the epicentre of all educational debate, creating a larger-than-life media persona characterised by a pugilistic style of rhetoric, while pursuing “educational excellence” with quasi-religious zeal.</p>
<p>Others, such as Sir David Bell, carried out their work in a far less overt manner. But in spite of their very different styles, all had one thing in common: they were familiar with the culture and contexts of education in England and all came from the UK.</p>
<p>Ofsted was not set up to push through education reforms against resistance from unions, nor was it established to push any particular party political agenda. It was set up to provide information to parents in an increasingly marketised environment.</p>
<p>The chief inspector is there to ensure that this is done in an impartial and unbiased way. Carrying out this work, particularly in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-vision-for-education-is-difficult-to-swallow-heres-why-53349">fragmented and opaque system of educational accountability</a> that exists in England today, demands the type of cultural and nuanced understanding of the English system that individuals outside of the UK are unlikely to possess.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Baxter is affiliated as an elected member of The Council of The British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) an independent voice supporting quality education through effective leadership and management. I</span></em></p>The government’s search outside the UK for the next chief inspector of schools is misguided.Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Public Policy and Management , The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533492016-01-20T15:27:09Z2016-01-20T15:27:09ZThe government’s vision for education is difficult to swallow – here’s why<p>If you were in any doubt about how complex and opaque the education system in England has become, a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/regional-schools-report-published-15-16/">new report</a> by MPs has outlined it in no uncertain terms. The report by the House of Commons education select committee into Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) raises a number of concerns about the role and function of the people charged with overseeing the growing number of academy schools in England. </p>
<p>The report questions the role and function of England’s eight RSCs and the whole area of democratic accountability in education, particularly in light of proposals to expand the academies programme contained in the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/educationandadoption.html">Education and Adoption bill</a> making its way through parliament. Combined with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/15/primary-schools-oversize-classes-claims-labour">reports that over 500,000 primary school children</a> are now being taught in super-size classes and that we are facing a chronic shortage of teachers, the whole area of the government’s strategic planning in education is called into question.</p>
<h2>A sticking plaster approach</h2>
<p>As parliament’s public accounts committee <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/report-sshool-oversight-and-intervention/">pointed out</a> in January 2015: “The DfE [Department for Education] presides over a complex and confused system of external oversight.” This confused system is made up of state schools that continue to be maintained by Local Education Authorities (LEAs), as well as academies and free schools, which are free from LEA control.</p>
<p>RSCs were introduced as “a pragmatic approach to academy oversight”, a sticking plaster over what has become such a convoluted form of accountability that not even those working in schools can understand it – not to mention parents. According <a href="http://www.pta.org.uk/">to PTA UK</a>, a charity that helps parent-teacher associations, just one in ten parents know what role RSCs play in their child’s education, leading to confusion when it comes to deciding where and who should address any problems. </p>
<p>Effective strategic planning is recognised <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270085642_Strategic_Management_in_Public_Services_Organisations_Concepts_Schools_and_Contemporary_Issues">as one of the cornerstones of effective</a> public services, as a number of <a href="http://www.geocities.ws/policy_making/en/publicpolicy/organizational_performance.pdf">research projects have highlighted</a>. </p>
<p>Yet as the boundaries between public and private become increasingly blurred, this planning becomes ever more complex. Reforms of the English school system that have intensified since 2010 have produced a <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/cmpo/migrated/documents/competition.pdf">hybrid system of accountability</a> in which numerous bodies compete and collaborate to provide educational governance. These reforms have also led to a serious planning deficit in terms of school places.</p>
<p>This lack of strategic foresight is all the more concerning given that none of these issues have come out of the blue. Researchers have been predicting a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-a-teacher-shortage-looming-34990">teacher shortage</a> for some time now, and the number of children entering reception classes has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433680/SFR16_2015_">rising in relation to population</a> over a number of years. </p>
<p>The ability to plan locally has been severely compromised by the undermining of resource and statutory powers of local authorities, not least in the areas of school planning. This <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/children-and-young-people/-/journal_content/56/10180/7648546/NEWS">led the Local Government Association</a> (LGA) to urge the government to expand academy schools to meet demand for school places, or else to give back powers to councils to open new state-maintained schools, something they currently are not permitted to do.</p>
<h2>Patchy solutions to big issues</h2>
<p>The government response to the places shortfall has largely been to advocate the opening of new free schools. The prime minister, David Cameron <a href="" title="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">speaking in March 2015,</a> committed his party to providing another 270,000 school places in free schools, if re-elected, by 2020. </p>
<p>Since 2010, free schools <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/25/extra-funds-free-schools-warwick-mansell">have taken a</a> disproportionate <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-and-expenditure-in-academies-in-england-2013-to-2014">amount of funding</a> compared to state-maintained schools. But they have also compounded the places problem by opening in areas <a href="https://fullfact.org/factcheck/education/72_per_cent_free_schools_areas_need_school_places-47254">where there is already a surplus of places</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108623/original/image-20160119-29783-nx2f3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crammed in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Smiltena/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And even when they do open in areas of need, they often don’t immediately <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/10089-001_Capital-funding-for-new-school-places.pdf#page=28">operate at full capacity</a>, but admit just one year group and build up to a full complement of pupils over a number of years.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6467602/NEWS">A survey by the LGA</a> published in August 2014 found councils had spent more than £1 billion in attempting to make up the shortfall. This was based on data which revealed that 66 of the 152 council areas with responsibility for schools would have more primary-age pupils than places for them in 2016-17, rising to 85 areas in 2017-18 and 94 areas in 2018-19.</p>
<p>The government response to the accountability gap – which has already led to issues such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/trojan-horse">Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham</a> – has been to implement the system of regional commissioners. But as the education committee’s new report points out, the flaws inherent within the reach and remit of the role are wide-ranging, affecting crucial areas of safeguarding, inspection, school improvement, democratic accountability and variation in standards between regions. The committee also points out that conflicts of interest need to be addressed far more cohesively, along with the thorny issue of who exactly holds these increasingly powerful individuals to account. </p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ascl.org.uk/ahead-network/briefing-on-the-education-and-adoption-bill-ahead.html">Education and Adoption bill</a> stands to place further pressure on what education scholar Martin Lawn describes as a “<a href="http://eer.sagepub.com/content/12/2/231.short">systemless system”</a> of education. This is one in which strategic planning is almost impossible given the number and overlapping remit of organisations involved in the governance of English education. </p>
<p>Jon Coles, chief executive of academy chain United Learning, giving evidence to the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/401.pdf">select committee</a>, suggested that the whole area of education needed a “back to basics” approach, stating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think we are reaching a point where we need a new settlement. We have not had a settlement that has been national, clear and comprehensive since the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/educationact1944/">1944 [Education] Act</a> … there has been a progressive erosion of some people’s roles, development of new roles, changes to the key functions of key actors in the system the landscape has changed hugely I think we just need to have a fresh look.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government assures us that it does have a vision for education: “A world class education system <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/15/david-cameron-i-want-every-school-to-become-an-academy">in which all schools are academised</a>.</p>
<p>Yet it is becoming harder and harder to buy into this "vision” when viewed through the prism of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-solve-the-teacher-shortage-53009">the issues</a> that currently beset education in England. No doubt the parents of those pupils being taught in a portacabin by the fifth supply teacher in as many weeks, and who have little idea as to where to address complaints, may have problems buying into that “vision” too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Baxter is affiliated as a Member of the Council of The British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society</span></em></p>The system of oversight of England’s academy schools has been criticised by MPs.Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Public Policy and Management , The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533292016-01-20T03:59:34Z2016-01-20T03:59:34ZUniversity protests are important – but school fees also matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108431/original/image-20160118-31828-1rurfub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School fee exemptions that are meant to help poor families can actually cause them major problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It <a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/152183-how-much-it-costs-to-send-your-child-to-private-school-and-university-in-sa.html">costs more</a> to send a child to some of South Africa’s elite private schools than it does to cover tuition at many universities. This is just one reason among many that it’s time for a commission on school funding. The school fee system also needs urgent attention – not least because it is hardening the education system into a <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/education-in-sa-a-tale-of-two-systems">class-divided order</a>. </p>
<p>South Africa is thinking about overhauling higher education funding. This process should be accompanied by a major relook at the school funding and fee exemption system.</p>
<p>At the country’s universities, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-protests-point-to-a-much-deeper-problem-at-south-african-universities-49456">#FeesMustFall</a> campaign has rightly concentrated the collective mind on rising student fees,<a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-31-loans-weigh-students-down">historical debt</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/financial-stress-distracts-university-students-from-academic-success-49818">financial burdens</a> students face when entering university, and an ineffectual <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/education/2016/01/09/zuma-reiterates-funding-pledge-to-national-student-financial-aid-scheme">National Student Financial Aid Scheme</a>. </p>
<p>But the divide between fee-paying and non-fee-paying public schools is equally worrying. A fee-exemption <a href="http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/government/schoolfees.html">system</a> was initiated in 1996 and culminated in some schools being declared entirely fee-free from 2006 – paradoxically allowing poverty to continue at one end of the scale and affluence to persist at another.</p>
<h2>No-fee schools</h2>
<p>The Department of Basic Education is proud of the fact that, in 2016, <a href="http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/more-children-attending-no-fee-schools-survey">just over 60%</a> of children do not pay school fees. This system was introduced after a long battle by NGOs in the 1990s against fees, particularly those charged to people in poor areas. </p>
<p>The problem is that these fee-exempt schools are not well resourced. South African government spending on education <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/igfr/2015/prov/03.%20Chapter%203%20-%20Education.pdf">compares favourably</a> with other developing and middle-income countries. But this <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2012.00862.x/abstract">does not</a> necessarily translate either into adequate outcomes or resourcing of schools. </p>
<p>On average, <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/igfr/2015/prov/03.%20Chapter%203%20-%20Education.pdf">about 80%</a> of provincial budgets are spent on teacher salaries, with some spending more and some less. This leaves about 20% or less for spending on maintenance, textbooks and other necessary resources. </p>
<p>It is no accident that more broken windows and toilets are found at schools in the poorer Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces than in wealthier parts of the country. There is simply not enough in the non-personnel allocation to schools to shift spending patterns. And there is little provision to deal with poor management of the meagre resources that are allocated. </p>
<p>Frustrated communities complain to watchdog organisations, but this does not solve the problem.</p>
<h2>The changing nature of suburban schools</h2>
<p>Increasingly, poor parents – particularly from urban areas like Johannesburg and Soweto, Cape Town, Durban and Pietermaritzburg – try to send their children to schools in well-off suburbs. </p>
<p>Schools receive more or less government funding depending on the socioeconomic status of their surrounding communities. So, a school in an established suburb like Durban’s Glenwood will get less money than one in a poor township such as Umlazi. But children from Umlazi can attend school in Glenwood, creating a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059315000449">disjuncture</a> between the social class of the area in which the school is located and the children attending it. </p>
<p>Since resources are allocated in such a way that schools in poorer areas get more, and those in richer areas get less, unexpected anomalies have arisen.</p>
<p>Educational statistics have not kept pace with these changes in suburbs and the nature of schools in them. Research shows that many such schools <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/november-2009/school-money">receive less</a> than they should if their learners’ parents’ income levels were taken into account.</p>
<h2>Poor parents lack power</h2>
<p>The chasm between whether schools are fee-paying or not is being widened by schools’ practices and assumptions that reinforce admission on the basis of the ability to pay. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/south-african-schools-act-regulations-relating-to-the-exemption-of-parents-from-payment-of-school-fees-in-public-schools-regulation-1052-of-2006-2006-11-10">Legally</a>, no child can be excluded if the parents are unable to pay school fees. Children in fee-paying schools are still eligible for total, partial, or conditional exemption from fees. It is the duty of the principal and school governing body to apprise parents of their liability for fees unless they have been exempted. </p>
<p>But often fee-paying schools don’t want to accept children who cannot pay. They simply don’t tell parents that they’re eligible for an exemption. In some cases, this reluctance is spurred by provincial governments that don’t compensate schools for exempted pupils.</p>
<p>Poorer parents accessing such schools may know their rights but lack the confidence to act on this knowledge. This is especially true when they’re confronted by a bursar whose first response to a request for the exemption form might well be: “But if you can’t pay, there are many fee-exempt schools that will take you”. Because of this, parents will simply not pay fees nor apply for exemption.</p>
<p>At the end of their school career, then, these young people are saddled with unpaid debts. These will mount when they enter a university. The hidden slights against such children – the shame and burden of knowing that action can be taken any time – soon accompany that person to university. It can transform into a monumental anger.</p>
<h2>Need to revisit school funding model</h2>
<p>Schoolchildren can and have been as vocal as university students in their demands. Both the students of 1976 and Equal Education more recently have shown this. But the silence that has developed around school fees needs to be broken. </p>
<p>An argument can be made that if fees should fall anywhere, it should be in schools first. There is enough evidence that the system is not working as it should across all schools and needs a fundamental rethink.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Chisholm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s fee exemption system is at the heart of a deepening divide in the country’s school sector. It’s time for a major relook at how this policy is applied.Linda Chisholm, Professor of Education, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/508052016-01-04T15:13:00Z2016-01-04T15:13:00ZWhat business do universities have in academy schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107156/original/image-20160104-28997-1rh55gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Me next?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">From www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There has been a transformation in English education in the last decade – the academies programme has brought private trusts and corporate sponsors into the schools system. These have included a steady trickle of the country’s universities as they seek a business advantage, a better corporate image, and perhaps even a revenue stream. All this while attempting to also steer a way clear of ethical and reputational risks.</p>
<p>Education policy in England, as elsewhere, assumes the effectiveness of market competition in driving up performance. In Higher Education (HE) this has resulted in rising fees, competition for students, and institutions jostling for position. The impact of corporate language and culture is evident in the increasing focus on the “business case”; on marketing and <a href="http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/50-best-branding-ideashttp://example.com/">branding</a>. The stratified nature of the sector is reflected in the way universities and other higher education institutions market themselves to distinguish their offer, construct their identities and position themselves in the “market”.</p>
<p>In the schools sector, the same policy assumptions have resulted in the “academies programme” and increased privatisation and diversification. By September 2015, 64% of secondary schools and 16% of primary schools had been taken over by private trusts.</p>
<h2>The academies programme</h2>
<p>Informed by the previous government’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/types_of_schools/">city technology colleges</a> and <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/12/21/la-charter-school-study-who-benefits/">US charter schools</a>, New Labour introduced the policy of closing failing schools and replacing them with privately sponsored schools in 2000. Academy trusts are independent, self governing and answerable directly to the Department for Education, bypassing local democratic accountability. </p>
<p>In 2007, universities were specifically encouraged to sponsor academies by exempting them from the £2m sponsor contribution (this has since been removed from all sponsors). However, there was no unseemly rush to take on failing schools – by 2010, there were 203 academies in England, but only 11 sponsored by universities. </p>
<p>Since the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/academieshl.html">Academies Act</a> of 2010, academies come in a wide and confusing array. There are now “sponsored” academies (failing schools forced to convert), converter academies (good schools allowed to convert), free schools (new schools which by law must be academies), University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and studio schools (both 14-19 vocational and technical colleges). Since 2010 the total number of academies has grown 25-fold (from 203 to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">5,165</a>) and the number of academies sponsored by universities has grown 11-fold (from 11 to 71 academy schools and 59 UTCs). </p>
<h2>A two-tier system?</h2>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/most-russell-group-universities-little-better-than-other-pre-92s">hierarchy of the university system</a> is reflected in the way universities engage with schools.</p>
<p>The table below, derived from government data, shows that Oxford and Cambridge and the 39 “old” universities <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/most-russell-group-universities-little-better-than-other-pre-92s">in the top tier</a> have been less interested in sponsoring failing schools in favour of opening new secondary schools and sixth form colleges as ‘free schools’.</p>
<p>While individual prestigious schools are being sponsored by “old” universities, “new” universities are seeking to establish Multiple Academy Trusts (MATs) with tens of schools. The five universities which have taken on converter academies are all “new” universities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107157/original/image-20160104-28988-x5ofb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Universities sponsoring primary and secondary schools and 6th form colleges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">N. Edmond/Department of Education</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s in it for universities?</h2>
<p>Sponsoring a school can be understood as a form of corporate philanthropy or social responsibility with associated corporate benefits. And there is the sniff of a business opportunity too. Academy trusts are not-for-profit but the management fee payable to MATs, for example, allows for possible significant revenue streams and, as they grow larger, economies of scale and potential surplus. </p>
<p>Universities may also have an eye on how larger MATs may support their education faculties by ensuring demand for their initial and continuing teacher education. Or, given increasing competition for students and their £9,000-a-year fees, sponsoring schools starts to look like a useful tool in promoting the institution to future fee-payers. </p>
<p>But there is a potential flipside. A school’s poor performance can impact <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/university-sponsors-quiet-over-promised-academy-support/">negatively on a university’s “brand”</a> and so universities and other higher education institutions are developing different rationales for sponsoring schools, and different ways of calculating benefits and managing risks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107158/original/image-20160104-29003-2fspap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kerching …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ismasan/4470978011/in/photolist-7P5VZM-6QFPU9-yenSe-6X5A7J-5Q2xpY-cpPkbQ-cpPihd-4bRvGf-5kvvtN-3GgmwM-8xF9jB-563FMB-bRWh18-efGoAx-9bbMK7-9e5Vir-dguGKQ-dguF6R-dF2MPe-dF2N8p-dF8fo7-dF8kdW-dF2Ut6-dF2Nen-dF2QuZ-dF2VkF-dF2PNX-dF8dzo-dF8ccY-dF2M8e-dF8nKo-dF8cRG-dF8cnE-dF2UA6-dF2Q3k-dF2Nnt-7MFq4K-7MFpCr-7MFqeH-7MFq8g-7MFqkp-7MKpes-7MKpyj-7MFpY2-7MFpxv-7Zrw9Q-cmYxmN-f28uT6-5oCb9H-7MForM">Ismael Celis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Risk to reputation can be managed by relative anonymity and some university-led school trusts avoid association with the university’s name and brand. The University of Liverpool, for example, does not broadcast its role as lead sponsor of the <a href="http://northernschoolstrust.co.uk/">Northern Schools Trust</a>. </p>
<p>Alternatively, risk can be managed by close control of a single prestigious new school serving as a showcase for the brand of the university, as well as a source of potential students. To gain the financial benefits of larger MATs, risk can be managed by balancing the proportion of sponsored and converter academies.</p>
<h2>What is at stake?</h2>
<p>There is no compelling evidence that academy conversion <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">is raising standards in England’s schools</a> yet university participation could be seen as legitimating the policy. Although some might prefer a university to alternative sponsors, there is no evidence that universities make good sponsors (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-in-academy-chains-and-las-performance-measures">the worst performing trust</a> in the country is university led) and university engagement in the academies programme introduces specific threats. </p>
<p>Simply put, academic integrity is undermined by a vested interest in a contested government policy; a commitment to growth of a MAT could result in pressure on schools to convert; and a university’s vested interest in particular schools could disadvantage other schools.</p>
<p>Inequality between schools is exacerbated if a wealthy and prestigious university is able to provide <a href="http://www.uclacademy.co.uk/About-Our-Sponsor">superlative facilities</a> and resources <a href="http://www.universityschool.bham.ac.uk/about/our-building/">to their free schools</a> but to only a tiny proportion of pupils lucky enough to live in the catchment area or meet the selection criteria. And so the fear must be that the corporate interest of universities in the sponsorship of schools does not address educational inequality, but simply creates a few elite schools and contributes to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/01/higher-education-class-degree-university-inequality">perpetuation of inequality and hierarchy</a> which is such a feature of higher education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadia Edmond is affiliated with the Brighton Campaign for Education <a href="https://campaignforeducation.wordpress.com/about/">https://campaignforeducation.wordpress.com/about/</a></span></em></p>When Higher Education gets involved in our children’s schooling, we risk widening inequalities and creating ethical dangers.Nadia Edmond, Principal Lecturer, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/414112015-05-15T05:09:02Z2015-05-15T05:09:02ZBad marks for Sweden’s muddled teacher training in OECD report on school system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81580/original/image-20150513-2483-aeyasc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is the writing on the wall for Sweden's education system? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Swedish flag via Vepar5/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sweden has experienced a <a href="http://www.thelocal.se/20140401/sweden-takes-another-tumble-in-pisa-school-rankings">dramatic decline</a> in the international ranking of its schools. Swedish 15-year-olds’ performance on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-led <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA) has declined from near the average in 2000 to significantly below average in 2012. No other country included in the PISA study has experienced a steeper decline than Sweden during this period. </p>
<p>The country has responded with a range of reforms designed to reverse the negative trend, such as the <a href="https://sweden.se/society/education-in-sweden/">Swedish Education Act in 2011</a> which promoted greater knowledge, new curricula and the introduction of teacher certification. <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/improving-schools-in-sweden-an-oecd-perspective.htm">Now a new report</a> from the OECD has recommended even more consistent and coherent efforts to address the slide. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81578/original/image-20150513-2472-ntblks.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sliding down the PISA rankings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/Improving-Schools-in-Sweden.pdf">OECD, Improving schools in Sweden: an OECD perspective 2015</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Swedish school system is comprehensive and designed to include all pupils in mixed ability classes. However, in the early 1990s, Sweden introduced one of the most sweeping school-voucher systems in the world. This allowed parents to choose between comprehensive state schools and independent free schools – known as <em>fristående skolor</em> or <em>friskolor</em> – all financed by tax money. </p>
<p>The free schools, especially those <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-big-winners-from-swedens-for-profit-free-schools-are-companies-not-pupils-29929">operated by companies for profit</a>, expanded rapidly. The share of students who attend free schools <a href="http://www.llakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Wiborg-online.pdf">increased</a> from 4% in 2003 to 14% in 2012. This has brought the share of students in independently run schools close to the OECD average. </p>
<p>There were high hopes that standards would be driven up by competition, but now 20 years later, there is an ongoing debate about whether the free schools have been responsible for the sharp decline in PISA results. </p>
<h2>Are for-profit schools to blame?</h2>
<p>Research has shown that the profit motive took precedence over quality in many schools. There are fewer qualified and experienced teachers in the free schools than in the state schools, the student-teacher ratio is higher and they suffer from a serious problem with grade inflation. Research <a href="http://www.sns.se/sites/default/files/konkurrensens_konsekvenser_pod_2.pdf">has found</a> that students who entered gymnasium (sixth form) from free schools, on average, went on to get lower grades over the next three years than those who had entered with the same grade from state schools. </p>
<p>However, the OECD report states that there is no statistically significant performance difference between students in private and public schools in Sweden <a href="http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/23/42/93/11ed5f6d.pdf">after accounting</a> for students’ socio-economic status.</p>
<p>It is worth noting that the report does not recommend abolishing free schools but it does recommend that they should collaborate more with state schools, with municipalities playing a role planning, improving and supporting them. </p>
<p>Since the majority of schools have remained public, school choice – which allows parents to choose between schools in the state sector – appears to have contributed to the decline in achievement rather than privatisation. In Sweden there is a relatively small variation in performance between schools in the state sector but this variation has increased during 2003-2012. School choice has led to the most resourceful parents flocking to the same schools. </p>
<p>In light of this, we would expect to see the decline in performance to be concentrated among disadvantaged students. This does not seem to be case. The PISA report states: “student performance in Sweden declined over the past decade among the socio-economically disadvantaged and advantaged students alike.” </p>
<h2>Mixed-up teacher training</h2>
<p>Since the decline in PISA test scores is identified both among high and low-income groups, the main finger of blame the OECD seems to be pointing is towards teachers and their training and instruction methods. Since the early 1990s, Sweden’s 28 teacher training colleges have been autonomous and free to design their own methods of education and assessment. This freedom has resulted in training programmes emphasising progressive pedagogical theory at the expense of school-effectiveness research and class room management literature.</p>
<p>Student teachers are taught that children should take responsibility for their own learning. What is more, there is a relatively low emphasis on professional development, meaning there is a risk that values learned during teacher training will persist unchallenged. According to the OECD report, this highly decentralised structure has led to a mismatch between initial teacher training and actual areas of demands at school level. </p>
<p>International evidence referred to in the OECD report shows that initial teacher education is likely to contribute more to human capital development when there are a relatively small number of teacher training institutions, such as the eight in Finland, that collaborate and form close partnerships with governments and school systems. </p>
<p>The report therefore recommends Sweden to review the number and quality of existing providers of teacher education. It suggests that a National Institute for Teacher and School Leader Quality should be established to bring together members of the research community, representatives of major governance organisations and teachers. </p>
<p>Their task would be to develop specific guidelines and frameworks for what constitutes high-quality initial training and continuing development of educational practitioners. It will be interesting to watch how the government reacts – if at all – to the calls for reform, and the response of the teacher unions to any changes. The unions will welcome higher salaries for teachers and any effort to increase the status of the teaching profession. However, they will properly oppose any attempts by government to get involved in developing the teacher training curriculum. </p>
<p>One of the peculiarities of the Swedish system is that teacher training colleges are left to decide the curriculum freely while teachers in schools enjoy little autonomy over curriculum and assessment. Maybe standards will rise for all pupils if this was changed around so that government has a stronger say in what student teachers learn in colleges. In return, teachers could then be allowed to enjoy higher autonomy in schools so they can compete, at least in a limited way, in designing curriculum and teaching methods to produce more innovation and effective results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susanne Wiborg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A slide in Sweden’s performance on international education rankings has led to calls for more reform.Susanne Wiborg, Reader in Education, Department of Lifelong and Comparative Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/415532015-05-09T08:54:36Z2015-05-09T08:54:36ZConservative victory means England’s school system will look like few others in the world<p>No-one foresaw the <a href="https://theconversation.com/conservatives-defy-forecasts-to-secure-victory-in-uk-election-41400">scale of the Conservative victory</a> – it exceeded even the limits of the party’s own expectations. Now, a majority Conservative government comes to power – unexpectedly and with sufficient lead over a divided and, for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, demoralised opposition. What will this newly confident government mean for education in general and schools in particular?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/manifesto-check-conservatives-hold-the-course-with-schools-plan-40192">Conservative education manifesto</a> was long on aspiration. It promised that England would lead the world in mathematics and science; that there would be a place in a “good” primary school for every child; that every “failing” or coasting school would be turned into an academy to drive up standards; that universities would remain “world-leading”; and that further education would “improve”. But translating these – rightly aspirational – goals into policies will bring some difficult challenges.</p>
<p>David Cameron <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11384575/David-Cameron-School-spending-per-pupil-will-fall-in-real-terms.html">ruled out</a> a real-terms increase in school spending, but promised to protect per-pupil spending. This means that school funding will increase in line with pupil numbers, but not with inflation or cost pressures, including National Insurance changes. </p>
<h2>Funding squeeze ahead</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7669">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> calculated that this meant schools could face cuts of up to 12% over the course of the parliament. Unlike their erstwhile coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives declined to include further education in their ring fence, which raises the spectre that the further education budget could be under greater pressure. Already, planned post-16 funding changes are placing <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/28/schools-hidden-funding-crisis-teachers-education">a huge squeeze</a> on the breadth of curriculum in school sixth forms. </p>
<p>For universities, wage inflation, increased pension and National Insurance costs and cuts to capital budgets mean that the ceiling of £9,000 a year on undergraduate fees is a diminishing resource: while the Conservatives have <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-03/hague-tories-have-not-ruled-out-tuition-fees-rise/">not ruled out </a> increasing the £9,000 fee cap, such a move would be politically challenging.</p>
<p>If funding is going to be tight, so too will accountability for both schools and pupils. The Conservatives promised to introduce a new test for pupils who do not reach expected levels in English and Mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2 (age 11). The promise drew widespread criticism from school leaders and teachers and the <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Visible_Learning.html?id=lh7SZNCabGQC">international evidence on repeating tests</a> in successive years as a lever for improved attainment is generally negative. </p>
<p>They look to a tightening of demands on schools. It appears that they will require all pupils to take GCSEs in the English Baccalaureate subjects (English, mathematics, science, a language and history or geography), and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2935690/3-500-coasting-schools-turned-academies-war-mediocrity-David-Cameron-remains-power.html">they have promised</a> to turn all schools they describe as “coasting” or “failing” into academies – essentially those with OFSTED grades 3 or 4. But while some academy groups have been extremely effective in improving the performance of struggling schools, not all have, and the struggle to find enough high-quality school sponsors looks to become increasingly difficult.</p>
<p>There is also, it appears, a commitment to a <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">new accountability framework</a> to recognise teaching quality in universities drawing on the claimed parallel of the Research Excellence framework for research quality. This was something that was prefigured but never really developed in Labour’s <a href="http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/nb/Barr_Selcom030311.pdf">2003 universities White Paper</a>. </p>
<h2>Full speed ahead on free schools</h2>
<p>There will be further diversification of education provision and types. The Conservative promise <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">500 new “free” schools</a>, as well as new University Technical Colleges, a new further education network of National Colleges and a strong commitment to extending online education in universities. Schools of all types – including grammar schools – will <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11417837/David-Cameron-Good-grammar-schools-should-be-allowed-to-expand.html">be allowed</a> to expand. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">David Cameron on free schools.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there is little reference in the manifesto to ensuring that new and diversified school and further education provision will be in the places of highest need. Some University Technical Colleges <a href="https://www.tes.co.uk/news/school-news/breaking-news/second-utc-close-due-financial-challenges">have already closed</a>, and while some “free” schools have been a success, others have been well-publicised failures. Delivering diversity is a strong theme of the manifesto – but so is the commitment to ensure that there is a good primary school place for every child. The balance between the development of an education market in new provision (although <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-profit-state-schools-have-some-attractions-but-theyd-be-politically-toxic-31069">“for profit”</a> schools have previously been ruled out) and effectively planned provision will be difficult.</p>
<p>This is especially the case in the face of the biggest challenge facing the new government: the need to provide an additional 500,000 school places to meet demographic growth over the next five years. This effectively means something like an additional 25,000 teachers on top of the number needed to maintain teacher supply. The manifesto commits to (effectively) doubling the number of new maths and science teachers being trained each year – something which is easier said than done.</p>
<p>The Conservative poll success has been striking. At root, it means that the radical <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">Michael Gove reforms</a> – to governance, curriculum and assessment – will be embedded, and that the English school system will continue to be radically reformed. We will have a largely autonomous system of competing schools and school groups in a high accountability framework. It will look like few other publicly funded school systems in the world, and the challenge of delivering the high aspirations which – rightly – the Conservatives have offered for every child in such a framework should not be underestimated.</p>
<p>*** This <a href="https://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/conservative-victory-means-englands-school-system-will-look-like-few-others-in-the-world/">article</a> was also published on the IOE London Blog***</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Husbands does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new majority Tory government now has the confidence in pursuing its aspirational education manifesto.Chris Husbands, Director of the Institute of Education and Professor of Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/406082015-04-22T10:20:48Z2015-04-22T10:20:48ZThere’s more to primary school place shortages than the cost of free schools<p>The furore over a looming primary school place crisis has intensified during the election campaign, with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/16/labour-conservatives-primary-school-place-crisis">Labour accusing the Conservatives</a> of causing a crisis in primary school places because of the high costs of their free schools policy. </p>
<p>The issue is already beginning to bite hard: initial figures from local authorities across the country <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11541524/Primary-school-places-thousands-miss-out-on-first-choice-school.html">on primary school national offer day</a> showed that in many authorities, far fewer children were offered their first choice school than in the past.</p>
<p>If – as the pundits suggest – the May 7 election produces another form of coalition government, tensions surrounding what to do about the provision of places for all are likely to increase along with the ongoing debates into <a href="https://theconversation.com/have-we-devolved-too-much-responsibility-for-our-schools-36671">local accountability</a> over education. Should they form part of the next coalition, the Liberal Democrats have already <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11550508/Nick-Clegg-I-want-Lib-Dem-Education-Secretary-and-no-more-zany-Gove-gimmicks.html">stated their intention</a> to fight for a Lib Dem education secretary and to get rid of unelected school commissioners who are in charge of overseeing academies – moves that will be bitterly disputed should they enter into another coalition with the Conservatives. </p>
<p>Labour has squarely placed the blame for the issue of a school place shortage at the door of the coalition’s free school policy. According to freedom of information requests to local councils submitted by the Labour party, four in five of the new free schools opening this academic year had not filled all their places on opening <a href="http://www.laboureducation.org.uk/cameron_s_classroom_squeeze_almost_one_in_five_schools_is_over_capacity_as_parents_rush_to_meet_deadline_to_apply_for_a_primary_school_place">with just two of the new mainstream primary</a> free schools pupils up to full capacity. Labour has <a href="http://www.laboureducation.org.uk/cameron_s_classroom_squeeze_almost_one_in_five_schools_is_over_capacity_as_parents_rush_to_meet_deadline_to_apply_for_a_primary_school_place">also pointed to</a> the rise in children between five and seven being taught in classes with at least 31 children. </p>
<p>This has undoubtedly caused more than a frisson of fear for most teachers, not to mention parents, desperate to get their children into a good local school. Conversation headings on the Mumsnet discussion list over the past five <a href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1448712-Primary-school-places">years indicate rising levels of concern with</a> the whole system responsible for allocating places.</p>
<h2>Population explosion, or just bad planning?</h2>
<p>Establishing whether the current situation is down to bad planning by the Department for Education (DfE) is not straightforward. The UK population as a whole is set to increase to 73m by 2028, a rise of 10m on the 2011 census. This is largely down to a combination of <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/interactive/uk-national-population-projections---dvc3/index.html">longevity – more births than deaths</a> – and migration. Of the 808,000 births in the UK in <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/fertility-analysis/childbearing-of-uk-and-non-uk-born-women-living-in-the-uk/2011/index.html">2011, there were 612,000 births</a> to UK born women and 196,000 to non-UK born women.</p>
<p>This combination, according to the <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6893341/NEWS">Local Government Association</a> (LGA), means that schools are reaching a tipping point and will struggle to find space for almost a million more pupils over the next decade. Its analysis showed that funding the extra places for the predicted 900,000 pupils will cost in excess of £12 billion.</p>
<p>The government has already committed £7.35 billion to create extra school places, but the LGA say that this will still leave a shortfall. It says that while local authorities created 90,000 school places in 2012-13, <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6467602/NEWS">an analysis</a> based on an online survey of chief finance officers among its members, revealed that a further 130,000 places would still be needed by 2017-18. This was in addition to the 80,716 new secondary places needed by 2019-2020.</p>
<h2>An erosion of local control</h2>
<p>There’s no doubt that the free school programme has been a costly one. Capital funding needed to set them up has been estimated at £6.6 billion per free school <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-job-for-the-next-education-minister-avoid-a-teacher-strike-over-school-budgets-39820">almost double the original planning assumption by the DfE</a>. But it is the system for the funding and planning for free schools and the gradual erosion of local authorities in planning for new schools that appears to have led to a situation which is ripe for implosion. </p>
<p>An authority can <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5854661/The+council+role+in+school+place+planning/998e5667-6218-4a94-aa57-2633010edc51">direct the expansion of community and voluntary controlled</a> schools, but not others. The process for establishing and funding free schools is completely outside the control of local councils. Although many try to work with potential free school sponsors to make sure that new schools are established in areas of need, so far this has taken place on a very ad hoc basis. </p>
<h2>Political divisions</h2>
<p>The issue of school places will be a key priority for the new government. The manifestos are mixed on this issue: while the <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">Conservatives</a> show no inclination to slow down their erosion of the powers of local government when it comes to school places, <a href="http://www.ukip.org/manifesto2015">and UKIP make little</a> mention of it in relation to education, <a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/manifesto">Labour</a> want to return power to local authorities along with <a href="https://www.greenparty.org.uk/">The Greens</a>. The <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/libdems/pages/8907/attachments/original/1429028133/Liberal_Democrat_General_Election_Manifesto_2015.pdf?1429028133">Liberal Democrats</a> are very specific on where they stand in relation to the issue: proposing to give democratically accountable local authorities clear responsibility for local school place planning. They also want to scrap the rule that all new state-funded schools must be free schools or academies.</p>
<p>The crisis over school places is not as Labour suggests, solely rooted in the free school programme – although there is little doubt that this has exacerbated the problem. It stems from the ideology of the market that has infused education policy since the Education Reform Act in 1988. An ideology that supposedly places parental choice above any other consideration – a poignant irony in the case of the recent debacle over <a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-at-durham-free-school-are-paying-a-high-price-for-the-ideology-of-school-choice-36630">The Durham Free School</a> in which all parental choice was removed when the government shut down the school.</p>
<p>The Conservatives are not the only party to buy into the idea of schools as a marketplace: Labour and the Lib Dems have supported elements of it to varying degrees. What is certain is that turning back the clock now and restoring some semblance of local control with regard to school places planning will be both costly and complex. It will also require the DfE to relinquish its stranglehold on control of the opening new free schools and academies. Such a move would represent a substantial departure from present practices. </p>
<p>It is only by admitting that the wholesale application of market principles in education is not working in the interests of parents and their children – that the the biggest crisis in English education can be avoided.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Working out how to solve the school place shortage will be a key priority for any new government.Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Social Policy, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/401922015-04-16T16:27:53Z2015-04-16T16:27:53ZManifesto Check: Conservatives hold the course with schools plan<p>The <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manifesto2015/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf">Conservative Party manifesto</a> makes the following commitments in the area of school-age education:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A good primary school place for your child with zero tolerance for failure. </p>
<p>Turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy and deliver free schools for parents and communities that want them. </p>
<p>Help teachers to make Britain the best country in the world for developing maths, engineering, science and computing skills. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The party’s “plan of action” revolves around the curriculum, school structures (academies and free schools), funding and teachers.</p>
<h2>Tough new standards?</h2>
<p>On the curriculum, the Conservatives emphasise learning of the basic skills of literacy and numeracy in primary schools, and in secondary schools (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/10/ofsted-chief-growing-failure-england-secondary-schools">where this fails</a>). They are right to prioritise these areas. Inadequate literacy and numeracy is a problem for about a fifth of the adult population, and those aged 16-24 perform worse than those aged 55-65 (<a href="http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/">unlike in most other countries</a>). Partly as a result, establishing basic literacy and numeracy leads to a high earnings return in later life.</p>
<p>Whether or not changing the curriculum will actually improve in these basic skills is another matter. </p>
<p>By “tough new standards”, the Conservatives mean learning times tables, complex multiplication and division, reading a book and writing “a short story with accurate punctuation, spelling and grammar” by the age of 11. One wonders what children are being taught at the moment. </p>
<p>The serious question is whether politicians are really best placed to decide on exactly what should be taught and how it should be done – especially in view of the fact that teachers complain about <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32000083">constant change and upheaval</a>. An alternative would be to enable independent expert bodies to review the curriculum every few years.</p>
<h2>School structures</h2>
<p>The Conservatives claim that turning schools into academies is improving education for children, but we do not know whether or not this is true. We only have evidence for the first 100 or so schools that became academies under the Labour government – and that evidence is shows that they were <a href="http://cee.lse.ac.uk/ceedps/ceedp123.pdf">effective</a>.</p>
<p>These schools date from an era when academy status was still used almost exclusively for low-performing schools in disadvantaged areas. Schools that converted post-2010, on the other hand, generally having more advantaged intakes and higher performance before converting. </p>
<p>So although the programme was successful for them, it makes no sense to extrapolate the same success to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">4,000-plus schools</a> of varying standards that have become academies since 2010. Any claim that continued rollout of the academies programme is or is not in the national interest is simply not based on evidence.</p>
<h2>Free schools</h2>
<p>The Conservatives also promise to open at least 500 new free schools. The demographic pressures are such that new schools are genuinely needed in many areas of the country (especially big cities). The important question is whether free schools are to be opened in areas with the greatest need for more places, or whether they will simply appear wherever local interest groups make the greatest fuss. </p>
<p>Since any post-May 7 government will need to keep a very tight lid on public expenditure, getting the greatest bang for their buck is all the more important. Making school places available is of prime importance, but having yet more choices available in areas with ample capacity won’t change much in terms of overall performance. It would also be very expensive. </p>
<p>Another question is what happens to areas that need additional places but do not receive good free school applications from would-be providers. It’s not clear from the manifesto whether local authorities would be allowed to step into the arena to set up new schools – and if not, why not.</p>
<h2>School funding</h2>
<p>The manifesto commitment around school funding is vague:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Under a future Conservative government, the amount of money following your child into school will be protected. As the number of pupils increases, so will the amount of money in our schools. On current pupil number forecasts, there will be a real-terms increase in the schools budget in the next Parliament. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s good to see a commitment to protect school expenditure, but this statement still falls a long way short. There is no commitment to protect per pupil expenditure in real terms. Also, no detail is given on what age range applies. Previous statements by the Conservatives have been <a href="https://www.teachers.org.uk/taxonomy/term/1924">widely interpreted</a> as saying that post-16 expenditure will not be protected. </p>
<p>On a positive note, there is a commitment to provide the pupil premium at current rates so that schools receive additional funding for those from the poorest backgrounds. Here, there is real evidence to imply this will have an impact, because <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1226.pdf">school spending is demonstrably important for improving performance</a> – especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Teachers</h2>
<p>There is a strong tone of “motherhood and apple pie” in the Tories’ policy on teaching: improve the number of qualified teachers, enable them to spend less time on bureaucracy, pay good teachers more, reduce the burden of inspections, and so on. </p>
<p>But it’s not clear how loosening the burden of inspections and scrutiny can be achieved without diminishing accountability, especially when so many schools are largely autonomous and struggling both with financial pressures and ever-changing curricular demands.</p>
<p>Maths and science is singled out for special attention – and this is certainly borne out by studies showing the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/302973/evidence-report-77-high-level-stem-skills_1_.pdf">importance of STEM subjects for labour market performance</a> and the oft-heard industry claims of <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/science-and-technology-committee/news/stem-report-published/">shortages</a> in these areas.</p>
<p>Overall, there are some useful commitments in the manifesto – some protection of spending, targeting disadvantaged students, emphasis on basic skills – but the document fails to give any reasons for why we should believe that changing school structures will make a difference to overall performance.</p>
<p><em>The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/manifesto-check-2015">Manifesto Check</a> deploys academic expertise to scrutinise the parties’ plans.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra McNally receives funding from the ESRC and BIS to do independent research, but this article does not reflect the views of the research councils. The Conversation's Manifesto Checks are produced in partnership with Nesta and the Alliance for Useful Evidence. </span></em></p>After five years of polarising and radical reforms, the Tories aren’t letting up on their vision for schools.Sandra McNally, Professor in the School of Economics, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/392002015-03-24T06:23:12Z2015-03-24T06:23:12ZFour concerns about schools at the top of the election agenda<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75695/original/image-20150323-17716-14kbz0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Counting up the costs ahead of the election. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hopscotch via Joanna Stankiewicz-Witek/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With education policy set to play an important part in the May general election campaign, debates around the future direction of the school system will take place against the backdrop of fast-paced reforms made during the coalition’s time in office. </p>
<p>These four key issues are likely to face scrutiny when it comes to schools policy. </p>
<h2>1. How the UK measures up</h2>
<p>Comparisons with Finland, Singapore and Korea abound. The UK continues to perform at about the OECD average in international rankings of pupil achievement, with an unchanged performance over the last decade. </p>
<p>The most high-profile international test is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a survey of the educational achievement of 15-year-olds organised by the OECD. <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm">In the last round of tests in 2012</a>, out of 65 participating countries, the UK ranked 26th place for maths (just behind France) and 23rd place for reading (just ahead of the US). </p>
<p>Given current relatively weak performance – and the difficulty in shifting performance – the aspirations of the secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31079515">for England to be among</a> the top five countries of PISA in 2020 is most probably unattainable. South Korea, currently ranked fifth, is well ahead of the UK in PISA – 59 points on maths and 36 points on reading. This translates to British 15-year-olds being between one and one and a half school years behind their peers in the top five countries. That’s an extremely large gap to bridge by 2020.</p>
<h2>2. Academies</h2>
<p>The academies programme represents the largest shake-up of the English education system for many years. Under the coalition government, half of secondary schools have become academies: schools that are more autonomous and funded directly by central government rather than through local authorities. </p>
<p>The academies programme started under Labour, targeting low-performing schools that were taken over by a sponsor. <a href="http://cee.lse.ac.uk/ceedps/ceedp123.pdf">Research suggests</a> that under Labour, there was a large improvement in the first 100 or so schools to become “city academies” within four years of their conversion.</p>
<p>But generalising from these early academies is difficult because the schools that have converted since 2010 have very different characteristics. While the early academies were set up in disadvantaged areas whereas some of the current 4,403 academies have relatively advantaged pupils in schools formerly rated as “outstanding”.</p>
<p>There appears to be political consensus behind the continuation of the academies programme – Labour <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/best-schools-would-still-be-able-to-convert-to-academies-under-labour-says-tristram-hunt-9802257.html">has said</a> it would still allow the best schools to convert – yet important issues still need to be addressed about the future expansion of the programme. It’s unclear whether academies will work in the smaller and much more numerous primary schools – of which so far around 10% are academies; and whether primary heads and governors have the breadth of expertise and the time to take on the responsibilities of greater autonomy. </p>
<p>Other concerns include what will happen to the community role that used to be performed by local education authorities in relation to badly-behaved pupils or pupils with special educational needs. There may be more of a danger that vulnerable pupils will slip through the net. </p>
<p>The much more divisive <a href="https://theconversation.com/fact-check-are-free-schools-raising-education-standards-38547">free schools programme</a> will also be a key area of debate in the election, particularly given the prime minister’s <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">pledge to expand</a> it. But there are concerns about whether schools are being set up in the areas of greatest need. </p>
<h2>3. School budgets</h2>
<p>The Conservatives and Labour have made explicit commitments on what they will do with school expenditure over the next parliament. The Conservative party says it would protect school expenditure in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/02/tories-will-protect-per-pupil-spending-says-cameron">cash terms per pupil</a>, whereas <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/feb/12/ed-miliband-labour-real-terms-protection-education-budget">Labour says</a> it would protect school expenditure in real terms.</p>
<p>While protecting the schools budget is to be welcomed, political parties have not made an explicit commitment to protect school expenditure in either the early years or post-16. Since both phases are important – and students now have to be in some form of education <a href="https://theconversation.com/70-years-after-the-education-act-debate-still-rages-on-the-school-leaving-age-29441">up until the age of 18</a> – politicians need to be quizzed about this.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcep.lse.ac.uk%2Fpubs%2Fdownload%2Fdp1226.pdf&ei=__0PVZP5Morg7Abq4YGwAQ&usg=AFQjCNFUcBfe_2qf8J9JKBEam1o9FJl6zA&bvm=bv.88528373,d.ZGU">recent review</a> by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) found positive effects of increased school resources on attainment, although there is a wide range of estimates about the exact magnitude of the effect. </p>
<p>CEP’s <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6281.html">own work on English primary schools</a> finds effects at the upper end of the range. About a 30% increase in average expenditure per pupil (over four years, between age seven and 11) is expected to produce an increase in achievement of a level equivalent to 25-30 points on the PISA scale. </p>
<p>Increases in resources are usually more effective for disadvantaged schools and pupils. If this indicates that disadvantaged pupils are genuinely more responsive to resource-based interventions, then targeting resources at these pupils will lead to higher average achievement, as well as more equitable outcomes. </p>
<h2>4. Helping disadvantaged children</h2>
<p>Targeted resources bode well for the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings">“pupil premium” policy</a>, which provides additional resources for disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for free school meals. The pupil premium started at £430 per pupil per year in 2010-11 (approximately £450 in 2009 prices) and rose to £1,300 in 2014-15 (approximately £1,150 in 2009 prices). But free school meals pupils make up only 17% of pupils nationally. </p>
<p>Since the pupil premium is simply additional funding for some schools, and is not necessarily used for resources targeted specifically at children on free school meals, <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6281.html">it amounted to additional income</a> of at best about £100 per pupil initially, rising to £200 by 2014-15 (again at 2009 prices). </p>
<p>According to estimates, an additional £200 per student per year could be expected to raise achievement by around five points on the PISA scale. If the premium is spent on pupils eligible for free school meals in schools with high proportion of them, the effects could be substantially higher and the pupil premium could go some way to closing the large attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra McNally does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the academies programme to the size of school budgets, the issues to watch in this election campaign.Sandra McNally, Professor in the School of Economics, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/387972015-03-13T16:39:40Z2015-03-13T16:39:40ZBanning faith schools is no quick fix to social segregation<p>Back in 2001, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1702799.stm">riots broke out</a> in northern cities in England sparked by ethnic tensions. The <a href="http://resources.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/Publications/Documents/Document/Default.aspx?recordId=96">Cantle Report</a> on the riots in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley claimed that ethnic communities there lived parallel and polarised lives: “These lives often do not seem to touch at any point, let alone overlap and promote any meaningful interchanges.” Ethnic segregation existed in schools, largely as a consequence of residential segregation or the admissions policy operated by some schools. This pattern was further exacerbated by government support at the time for single-faith schools. </p>
<p>Writing a few years later, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/sep/02/education.labour">Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee</a> described the growth of faith schools as: “among the most indelibly damaging of Tony Blair’s social legacies, his permanent bequest to his own beliefs”. Blair’s support for faith schools was largely based on <a href="https://theconversation.com/little-evidence-that-faith-schools-provide-a-better-education-27758">the claim</a> that they achieved higher performance outcomes for their pupils, but many worried that this opened the door to fundamentalist Christian influence. </p>
<h2>Schools in the spotlight</h2>
<p>Following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/operation-trojan-horse-examining-the-islamic-takeover-of-birmingham-schools-25764">Trojan Horse scandal in Birmingham</a> schools in 2014, Ofsted, the school inspectorate, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/386593/Tower_20Hamlets_20advice_20note.doc">expressed concern</a> that some private Muslim schools were failing to promote British values and protect their pupils. </p>
<p>In February, a <a href="http://example.com/">school principal was forced to deny</a> that three girls who <a href="https://theconversation.com/bethnal-green-girls-need-to-know-there-is-a-way-out-of-islamic-state-cult-38004">left Britain to go to Syria</a> were radicalised at school. In 2012, an <a href="http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=137789">Ofsted report</a> on their school, the Bethnal Green Academy – which is not a faith school – found it to be outstanding on all measures, but noted that three quarters of its students did not have English as their first language and that the proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds was much higher than the national average. </p>
<h2>Cost of segregation</h2>
<p>Is it any wonder that many feel that faith schools should be banned altogether? This was the reaction <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11457650/No-new-faith-schools-unless-they-tackle-segregation-Commission.html">from some groups</a> at the publication of the latest report from the <a href="http://socialintegrationcommission.org.uk/images/sic_kingdomunited.pdf">Social Integration Commission</a>. It is the third report in a series that has examined the changing face of British society, looking particularly at the level of integration or segregation of people on the basis of age, ethnicity or social background. <a href="http://socialintegrationcommission.org.uk/index.php/publications">Previous reports</a> highlighted that Britain is becoming an increasingly diverse society, but the level of engagement between members of different communities is not keeping pace. They have pointed to powerful evidence that segregation entails negative consequences and additional financial cost.</p>
<p>The section of the latest report on schools rings familiar alarm bells: the highest level of integration is found amongst the 18-35 age group, who are either more mobile, or in further or higher education. By contrast, levels of ethnic segregation are high among school-age children. Social and religious segregation is rising, aided in part by the current government’s commitment to free schools – state-funded schools that are outside of local authority control. </p>
<p>England is not alone in trying to find solutions to these problems – and there is no blueprint solution. While the 2001 riots in English cities were taken by some as a failure of a multicultural commitment to celebrate diverse identities, riots in the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4413964.stm">suburbs of Paris in 2005</a> were cited <a href="http://riotsfrance.ssrc.org/">as evidence</a> of the failure of the French commitment to social integration through the unitary and secular tradition of civic republicanism.</p>
<h2>Public funding can be held to account</h2>
<p>But banning faith schools is unlikely to be successful at reducing social segregation. Under current education law it would not be possible for a government to ban faith schools entirely. The right to establish and direct separate schools is contained in the <a href="http://www.unicef.org/crc/">Convention of the Rights of the Child</a>, and the application of this in English law makes it permissible to establish independent schools, subject only to them meeting <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/296368/uncrc_how_legislation_underpins_implementation_in_england_march_2010.pd">some basic educational standards</a>. Faith schools could, however, be denied access to public funding, but this may have unexpected and undesirable outcomes. </p>
<p>If the concern with faith schools is that they become narrowly insular, then pushing them into the private sector only makes that outcome more likely. As long as faith schools receive public funding then they can be held to account for their admissions policy, curriculum and wider practice.</p>
<p>In all these respects the recommendations of the Social Integration Commission seem to be spot-on. It recommends that faith schools should be encouraged to provide more opportunities for their pupils to interact with children from different ethnic communities and income backgrounds, through partnerships, shared facilities or the co-location of schools.</p>
<p>It also recommends that religious education in faith schools should cover a diversity of faith traditions, and not take the form of religious instruction. The admissions code of practice should encourage each faith school to admit a mix of pupils which reflects local diversity and demography. Nor should they be restricted only to members of the faith community. And the school buildings themselves should become spaces for local community engagement.</p>
<h2>A network of schools</h2>
<p>We should not be afraid of institutional diversity, as long as the diverse elements are well connected to ensure that all boundaries are porous and all schools are places where generations and communities have opportunities to meet and learn from one another. Faith schools should be embraced as part of a diverse education system, but obliged to engage with as many others as possible.</p>
<p>Despite adopting fundamentally divergent policy approaches, Britain and France risk ending up with silo societies where too many communities live their lives apart. Rather than focus on individual schools, we should think of the school system as a network. In this way, we should be promoting networked solutions in which schools collaborate to connect pupils, teachers, parents and communities to the greatest extent possible. In such a connected world, diversity among the elements of the network will not be a problem and indeed may even be an advantage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Gallagher has received funding in the past from the Economic and Social Research Council, Atlantic Philanthropies, the International Fund for Ireland, the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (NI) and the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council. He is a Board member of the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation, a member of the Council of Europe CDPEE Ad Hoc Group on Higher Education, and a deputy board member of European Wergeland Centre, Oslo.</span></em></p>Including faith schools as part of a broader network is a surer way of bringing communities closer together.Tony Gallagher, Professor of Education and Pro Vice Chancellor, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/385472015-03-10T12:52:00Z2015-03-10T12:52:00ZFact Check: are free schools raising education standards?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74297/original/image-20150310-13539-suvtq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conservatives have pledged to continue the expansion of their free school programme. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Free schools are having an important effect on collaboration and raising standards in nearby schools … We can see free schools are both popular but they’re also effective.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Nicky Morgan, secretary of state for education</strong> </p>
<p>The statement by Nicky Morgan on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054pj6w">BBC Radio 4 Today programme</a> on March 9 came on the day that the prime minister, David Cameron, <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31791485">pledged to open at least 500 new free schools by 2020</a> if the Conservatives win the May general election.</p>
<p>Morgan’s statement was comprised of three main points: </p>
<ol>
<li> Free schools are raising standards in nearby schools</li>
<li> Free schools are popular </li>
<li> Free schools are effective</li>
</ol>
<h2>Raising standards in nearby schools</h2>
<p>The background for this claim is a <a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/a%20rising%20tide.pdf">new report</a> published by the think tank Policy Exchange. Its authors claim: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The data suggests, for the first time, evidence of the wider effect which is taking place at the time that new Free schools are opening in local communities. Free schools are helping to raise standards not just for the pupils who attend them but for other pupils across the local community – especially for those in lower performing schools. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is very difficult to see support for this conclusion in the report itself. The overall analysis compares the performance of those schools nearest to the free school with the national average. The results for both primary schools and secondary schools show that these are essentially identical – that is to say, the nearest schools to free schools perform no differently to schools overall, so there is no evidence there of a spill-over from competitive pressure. </p>
<p>While there are no differences overall, a split by school performance shows that the lowest performers among the closest schools do better than the national average, and the high and middle performers do worse than average. </p>
<p>This evidence is far from robust. The sample sizes are extremely small. There are no tests for statistical significance for the differences for low performers and they would almost certainly not be statistically significant given the tiny sample and the large natural variation in school outcomes. </p>
<p>There is no presumption at all that this is a causal relationship, given that free schools have not been randomly located. In fact the different split between those low performers that have improved and the high performers that have declined seems much more likely to be reversion to the mean. Even taken at face value, the results show that while low performers improved, the rest were worse off. </p>
<h2>Free schools are popular</h2>
<p>“Popularity” is about parental preferences for schools, and this data is simply not available. The basis for the claim comes from a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-applications-and-places">Department for Education (DfE) survey</a> of free schools in March 2014. The survey collected data on applications per place for September 2014 and 109 of 142 mainstream free schools responded. The result is that on average, for every available place, a school received 2.7 total preferences. </p>
<p>Is that a lot? Crucially, the report states: “We are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of applications by order of preference due to variation in the way schools responded to this part of the survey.” So this number is all preferences, not just first preferences. </p>
<p>What would an estimate be of the number of total preferences a “neutral” school would receive? For simplicity, consider a neighbourhood with the same number of pupils as school places. If parents typically state x number of preferences, then a “neutrally” popular school should have x times more total preferences than places. <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/showciting;jsessionid=7BC9F7C1DB088B4F56A3A050A4762E4D?cid=9500759">Evidence</a> suggests that, today, parents make roughly four preferences, though since parents do not always use all their preferences, perhaps three times is a closer estimate.</p>
<p>So this rough calculation suggests that three times as many preferences as places is about neutral in an average setting. But since free schools <a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/a%20rising%20tide.pd">are disproportionately</a> in areas with very low-performing schools and a lack of places, then a neutrally popular school might expect a lot more preferences than the average. </p>
<p>Other concerns with the underlying data are that this survey is based on self-reported answers by schools, and only three-quarters of all free schools answered. </p>
<p>So, the data available so far does not show whether free schools are more or less popular than equivalent regular new Local Authority schools. While some individual free schools appear to be popular, some are not and a rough estimate suggests that on average they are less popular than a neutrally popular school.</p>
<h2>Free schools are effective</h2>
<p>The Education Select Committee <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">recently concluded</a> that there is no basis for telling whether free schools are more or less effective than other similar schools. For example, the Policy Exchange report states that “so far there have been nine free schools with GCSE results”.</p>
<p>The Committee stated: “We agree with Ofsted that it is too early to draw conclusions on the quality of education provided by free schools or their broader system impact”.</p>
<p>More broadly: “Current evidence does not allow us to draw conclusions on whether academies in themselves are a positive force for change.”</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>There is no empirical basis for Morgan’s statements. It is neither definitely untrue nor definitely true. There are reasons for scepticism, but there is simply insufficient evidence to establish any of the three claims for wider local spill-overs, for popularity nor for effectiveness. </p>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>The fact check usefully divides Morgan’s claims into three main aspects: standards, popularity and effectiveness. The section on standards rightly points to the overclaiming evident in the interpretations of the Policy Exchange report, which as the author states does not really show any effect, either positive or negative, on standards.</p>
<p>The section on popularity defines popularity in terms of parental preference. This is of course only one possible way of defining the concept, but it is certainly a legitimate one, and the author is correct in stating there is no real evidence here either.</p>
<p>The final section on effectiveness defines this in terms of GCSE results. Usually, we would define effectiveness in value-added terms, but in either case it is accurate to state that at present there is not enough evidence to make any statement on this. One issue is the second citation of the select committee report which refers to academies rather than free schools – though the conclusion of a lack of evidence is even more true for free schools.</p>
<p>The overall conclusion that there is not enough evidence for either positive or negative conclusions about free schools is entirely correct at this stage.</p>
<div class="callout">The Conversation is fact checking political statements in the lead-up to the May UK general election. Statements are checked by an academic with expertise in the area. A second academic expert reviews an anonymous copy of the article.<br><br><a href="https://theconversation.com/factchecks/new">Click here to request a check</a>. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible. You can also email factcheck@theconversation.com </div><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Burgess receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Muijs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Education secretary Nicky Morgan said free schools push up standards in neighbouring schools and are popular and effective.Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/374332015-02-11T13:55:23Z2015-02-11T13:55:23ZFaith schools are not brimming with unqualified teachers<p>On <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051zzq5">BBC Question Time</a> on February 5, Labour’s shadow education minister Tristram Hunt made a remark appearing to link weak, unqualified teachers to religious education, specifically Catholic schooling provided by nuns. It was not clear at the time what he was trying to say, because he was interrupted. And the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31159643">subsequent uproar</a> in response has done little to clarify his point. </p>
<p>Hunt <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/tristram-hunt-meant-no-offence-by-arrogant-and-ignorant-comments-on-nuns-teaching-10028883.html">subsequently apologised</a> and said he meant “no offence” by his comments. But it is time for some facts about whether there are disproportionately more unqualified teachers in religious schools, and then some calmer consideration about whether it matters.</p>
<h2>Religion by religion</h2>
<p>We combined two datasets published in 2014 from the Department of Education – one on the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013">school workforce</a> and one on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014">school characteristics</a> – and our analysis shows the number of teachers without recognised teacher training in each type of school in England. From the first graph below, it is clear that state-funded Roman Catholic schools – including those with nuns as teachers – are actually the least likely, on average, to employ unqualified teachers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71718/original/image-20150211-25714-6xcggf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Note: these figures include all state-funded mainstream primary or secondary schools for which there is data. Where known, trainees actually working in schools are excluded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The long-standing schools of “no religious character”, and those with a Church of England or Catholic basis are at, or below, the national average for unqualified teachers. Rather, it is the relatively small number of schools for minority religions in England that have the most – with Muslim and Jewish schools well above the national average. These, if any, should be the target for Hunt’s concern. </p>
<h2>Free schools should be the target</h2>
<p>But if Hunt was really concerned about the prevalence of unqualified teachers in England’s schools – which <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-reforms-allow-hundreds-unqualified-4544944">Labour has criticised</a> in opposition – then an even clearer target than faith-based schools in general would be all schools not under local authority control.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=229&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=229&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=229&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71715/original/image-20150211-25679-12gzzh6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Free schools and academies, supported by both the current and the previous administration in the UK, have been made “independent” of their local council. Their <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-information-war-raging-within-the-academies-revolution-29124">autonomy means they are unchallenged</a> by any state-representative organisation at local level. Rather, they are overseen directly by the Department for Education and the schools regulator Ofsted. </p>
<p>It is schools of this kind that have been the focus of faith-based alarms and scandals <a href="https://theconversation.com/trojan-horse-plot-exposed-a-fragmented-education-system-35583">such as the “Trojan horse”</a> affair in Birmingham. Perhaps not coincidentally, they also have markedly higher than average levels of unqualified teachers.</p>
<h2>Religious segregation is a social problem</h2>
<p>The Catholic and Church of England schools have been part of the state education system since it started. They are part of the reason why there is a universal school system. And, in many respects, they are very similar to bog-standard local authority schools with no religious character. But having them creates two current problems for the system as a whole.</p>
<p>First, the intakes of faith-based schools are somewhat <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415536905/">socially and economically stratified</a> in relation to the areas in which they recruit pupils, and this is especially true for Catholic schools. Given that they are <a href="https://theconversation.com/little-evidence-that-faith-schools-provide-a-better-education-27758">neither more nor less effective</a> in terms of public examination results than non-religious schools, this danger of social segregation between faiths and social groups is being run for no gain. </p>
<p>The newer faith-based schools, along with the much older schools for Jewish families, are even worse in this respect – often dividing children by ethnic as well as socio-economic characteristics. And this leads to the second problem. We cannot deny faith-based schools to some religions while permitting them for others. But to accept a multitude of different faith-based schools will likely splinter our schools and thus our society along sectarian lines. </p>
<h2>Remove state funding</h2>
<p>The only clear solution then is to remove the faith basis for all schools, making religion a personal, family or a place-of-worship issue. This would remove it from the organisation of a taxpayer-funded education system that is intended to equalise life chances and encourage the autonomous appraisal of evidence. </p>
<p>Abolishing the faith basis for all schools would deny no individual their freedom of worship, and cause no reduction in exam performance. It would remove a barrier to ethnic and social integration in society, remove at least six conflicting belief systems cluttering up the process of learning and might also lead to fewer unqualified teachers. </p>
<p>Of course, this might lead to a growth in small fee-paying schools with a strong religious basis and a high proportion of unqualified teachers, of a kind that already exist. But the quality of their provision is usually so poor that <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/School_choice_in_an_established_market.html?id=zqmcAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">they do not survive long</a> in competition to the state sector and the larger, well-established private schools – which incidentally tend to have fewer unqualified teachers than their volatile counterparts. </p>
<p>But, as the issues in Birmingham suggest, abolishing the independence of free schools and academies – or at least their right to employ unqualified teachers – should be seriously considered. The so-called “Trojan Horse” schools were not ostensibly religious in character. It was, it seems, their autonomy from local oversight that allowed problems to arise. </p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-wouldnt-want-an-unqualified-doctor-or-lawyer-so-why-are-untrained-teachers-ok-32450">You wouldn’t want an unqualified doctor of lawyer… so why are untrained teachers ok?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard is currently conducting research funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the Educational Endowment Foundation, and the National Literacy Trust. None of it is related to this issue. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beng Huat See does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On BBC Question Time on February 5, Labour’s shadow education minister Tristram Hunt made a remark appearing to link weak, unqualified teachers to religious education, specifically Catholic schooling provided…Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityBeng Huat See, Research Associate in the School of Education, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/367282015-01-27T05:59:02Z2015-01-27T05:59:02ZNo convincing evidence that academies are pushing up school standards<p>It is not yet possible to tell whether the government’s flagship academies policy has been “a positive force for change” in the English education system. That’s the finding of a <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/258.pdf">long-awaited report</a> by MPs on the Education Select Committee into academies and free schools. </p>
<p>The report is likely to be used as political ammunition <a href="https://theconversation.com/have-we-devolved-too-much-responsibility-for-our-schools-36671">ahead of the general election</a> by those concerned with the high speed of the reforms and lack of transparency in how academies and free schools are being run.</p>
<p>According to Ofsted data quoted in the report, between 2008 and 2013, the number of pupils in England attaining five A* to C grades at GCSE rose from around 48% to around 61% – and there were similar increases in other parts of the UK. Over the same period, attainment at new sponsored-academies has risen by about the same extent. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70034/original/image-20150126-24521-7wpfn6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">GCSE attainment in sponsor-led academies over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ofsted</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rise in the number of academies since the Coalition came to power in 2010 has been predominantly in these sponsored academies – when a trust, private school or company decides to sponsor a new state-funded school. These sponsored academies are often in disadvantaged areas, which still have attainment levels that are substantially below the national average. </p>
<p>Free schools, which are set up by an organisation outside local authority control, and converter academies, which have converted from local authority control into academies, are often in more advantaged areas. The MPs concluded that it is too soon to tell whether these new types of schools are increasing the attainment of their pupils or not.</p>
<p>They also said that there is: “at present no convincing evidence of the impact of academy status on attainment in primary schools.”</p>
<p>The implication here is that the rise in attainment is general and not the preserve of academies. There is, as every <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680930500117321">robust analysis</a> has shown, no evidence that academies are more effective at producing better grades with equivalent pupils from the same socio-economic backgrounds. </p>
<h2>Watch the spin</h2>
<p>Yet the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/258/25802.htm">press announcement</a> about the report and some of the top and tail of it suggest a very different interpretation. The committee’s headline findings are that: “Competition from the academy model may be driving improvement in English schools”. The report concludes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of the benefits of the expansion of academies has been the opportunity to develop competition between the providers of oversight, support and intervention systems for schools, whether they are academy chains or local authorities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The progress of all schools, whether academies or not, is therefore being attributed to the success of academies. And the argument is that competition provided by academies is driving “bog standard” comprehensives to succeed. </p>
<p>There is no evidence for this. Indeed there is considerable evidence the other way – such as the fact that the annual improvement in GCSEs is long-term and started well before the first academy was opened under the previous Labour government in 2002.</p>
<p>It is as though the final editor of the report needed to show somehow that academies were more successful than the rather derided local authority schools they were brought in to replace. And they had to clutch at straws. </p>
<h2>School intake remains key</h2>
<p>The reality is that we genuinely do not know whether the annual growth in GCSE scores since the exams were introduced in the 1980s is due to a real rise in the quality of pupil work or a lowering of exam standards. In a sense, it is pointless to argue either way since there is so little contemporary external evidence of the underlying standard of learning to calibrate the changes with. All we can say is that the introduction of academies coincided with the second half of that period, from 2002 onwards.</p>
<p>Yet two points about academies have become clear. First, the nature of their pupil intakes is distinct from that of the schools around them. Sponsored academies have even more disadvantaged pupil intakes than the local authority schools in the area around them, while converter academies and free school have much less disadvantaged intakes. This means that areas with converter academies have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2014.885726">highly socially segregated</a> school intakes, akin to areas with grammar schools. Such segregation of social groups <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=icmAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Overcoming+disadvantage+in+education+gorard&source=bl&ots=8D-Xx5DPek&sig=FUqVTgEh2KABz_CDAmfuxt4u6MM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oVrGVKSDBKOa7gatiYHADw&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Overcoming%20disadvantage%20in%20education%20gorard&f=false">causes considerable damage</a> to the education system. </p>
<p>It is also clear that the pupil intakes, even to sponsored academies, have been changing in their nature over time. On average, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2014.885726">their level of disadvantage</a> has dropped. For the sponsored academies this is a good thing, because it brings them closer to the average for their area and so reduces social segregation. </p>
<p>But of course, this means that for all academies, the increase in their GCSE scores have not been achieved with anything like the equivalent socio-economic level of pupils to those that they started with. This is not school improvement as it is widely understood. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/academies">here</a> to read more on academies on The Conversation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard receives research funding from ESRC and Nuffield Foundation - but none is relevant to this article. </span></em></p>It is not yet possible to tell whether the government’s flagship academies policy has been “a positive force for change” in the English education system. That’s the finding of a long-awaited report by…Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/366712015-01-26T06:15:16Z2015-01-26T06:15:16ZHave we devolved too much responsibility for our schools?<p>The thorny issue of what democracy is, what it’s not and whether it is an appropriate system for government has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-uk-has-little-to-celebrate-on-democracy-day-36410">at the top of the agenda</a> at the start of 2015. At the same time, we are in the lead-up to what’s likely to be a hard-fought and very unpredictable general election campaign. </p>
<p>Central to both are questions around the relationships between local and central government, the delivery of public services funded through taxation and how we create a modern economy for the 21st century.</p>
<p>It is an opportune moment to think about how our schools are run, how and to whom they are accountable – and how those relationships between central and local governments play out across the classrooms in our country. This is a peculiarly <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-englands-education-system-need-more-devolution-31991">English question</a>: in the rest of the UK, devolved governments have not adopted <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">many of the reforms</a> introduced in England by the former education secretary Michael Gove, such as free schools. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to operate local authorities that have a close relationship with their schools.</p>
<h2>Confusion reigns</h2>
<p>The English school system now has a range of different organisations, structures and forms of accountability with sometimes confused systems of democratic control. The current government has <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-000-down-20-000-to-go-the-academies-drive-gathers-pace-26028">intentionally expanded the academies programme</a>, establishing independent maintained schools outside the remit of local authorities and therefore outside of local government. </p>
<p>Such schools – including free schools – although “independent” of local government, are under the remit of the department for education in Westminster. Some of these schools are “run” by external not-for-profit organisations such as <a href="https://www.cfbt.com/">CfBT Education Trust</a> or <a href="http://www.unitedlearning.org.uk/">United Learning</a> while others are collections of schools led by schools themselves. Under the academies and free school programme, these schools report to the Department for Education and to central government directly. </p>
<p>While this may give some autonomy at the level of individual schools, this does raise issues for their relationship to the local and regional community and the degree to which they are accountable to local people. It <a href="https://theconversation.com/failing-academy-chains-highlight-hole-at-heart-of-education-policy-23954">cannot be an effective way</a> of running a national education system with thousands of schools reporting directly to the central government’s civil service. </p>
<p>Even Gove recognised that running a plethora of schools with different governance and management and accountability arrangements direct from Whitehall may have its difficulties. As a result, he created six <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-number-of-academies-and-free-schools-to-create-a-better-and-more-diverse-school-system/supporting-pages/regional-schools-commissioners-rscs">Regional Schools Commissioners</a> working between central government and individual schools.</p>
<h2>Schools forming partnerships</h2>
<p>Schools both in and outside the remit of local authorities have come together in various different partnerships and associations in the wake of the academies programme and the ensuing reduction of funding to local government that has followed. This provides them a means of support and collaboration – enabling them to share good practice in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-school-systems-need-to-be-more-like-the-tour-de-france-24604">schools-led system </a>and to attract external funding such as that from the <a href="http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/">Education Endowment Foundation</a>. Teaching school alliances, multi-academy trusts, umbrella trusts and a range of informal and formal collaborations are all ways in which schools continue to work together.</p>
<p>But although this is testimony to the skills of their headteachers and staff, there are wider issues about the delivery of our publicly funded education system and how this should be accountable to the local community and wider region. The debate about English “devolution” resulting from the Scottish referendum and recently highlighted with <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/uk/story/46575/">the call</a> by two Liberal Democrat MPs for “mini-parliaments”, shows that there is an appetite to look again at the relationships between what gets decided by central government and how that is then made accountable at local level. </p>
<h2>Key election questions</h2>
<p>Events such as the Trojan Horse episode in Birmingham and more recent issues around <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/nov/19/schools-tower-hamlets-ofsted-wilshaw-extremism-threat">Tower Hamlets</a>, have raised issues about the governance of schools and the limited ability of local government to intervene in schools which are “independent”. </p>
<p>This is not merely about the governance of schools. It reflects a wider issue about who is responsible for our schools system and how we can strategically deliver a national education. Fundamental to this is the ability to have enough school places to educate our children and young people – a power which is vested in local authorities. Yet they cannot open new schools since <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6893341/NEWS">all new schools must be academies</a> or free schools. </p>
<p>This will raise some key questions for politicians during the election campaign about how our school system is run and delivered. The Lib Dems and the Green Party are calling for greater accountability of schools at a local level. On the other side, the Conservatives and UKIP argue for a more school-led system, outside of local authority control. Despite their support for more devolved powers to a English system of government, these politicians see education as outside of that remit. </p>
<p>Labour’s position – set out in a policy paper <a href="http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-2015/policy-commissions/education-and-children-policy-commission">Education and Children</a> – hints that they may seek to bring in “local oversight” of academies and free schools. But as with all elections, the devil will be in the detail and the detail won’t play out until after the campaign is fought and won.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The thorny issue of what democracy is, what it’s not and whether it is an appropriate system for government has been at the top of the agenda at the start of 2015. At the same time, we are in the lead-up…Kate Reynolds, Dean of Education, School of Education and Institute for Education, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/366302015-01-23T15:26:41Z2015-01-23T15:26:41ZParents at Durham Free School are paying a high price for the ideology of school choice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69875/original/image-20150123-24521-1g3l084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parents in Durham will have a little less choice. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/adteasdale/9537276601/sizes/l">ADTeasdale</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-30884169"> Durham Free School is to have its government funding removed</a> in a snap decision made by Nicky Morgan, the secretary of state for education. The move comes after a <a href="http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/140005">damning Ofsted report</a> which found the school inadequate in all four categories, and raises some key questions about faith-based schools, parental choice and the future of the free school project in England.</p>
<p>Set up in 2012 and based around a Christian ethos, Durham Free School had been struggling since November 2014 when Ofsted declared it <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/resources/files/33585">inadequate in all areas</a>. The regulator stated that the school’s leaders, including its governors, placed too much emphasis on religious credentials when recruiting key staff, and not enough on excellent candidates with good leadership and teaching skills. They also declared that the leaders were failing to prepare students for life in modern Britain and that some students held discriminatory views of other people who have different beliefs or values from themselves.</p>
<p>This is a far cry from where the school began. Its first head, Peter Cantley, speaking <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10121533.Durham_free_school_headteacher_says_it_will_not_harm_other_secondaries/">in an interview</a> with the Northern Echo in December 2012, declared it would: “bring extra investment to the area and increase parental choice ” and would categorically not draw funding from nearby schools. He went on to describe it as having the potential to: “empower local communities, responding to their educational aspirations.”</p>
<h2>Politically inconvenient?</h2>
<p>The decision to close the school was taken very quickly, with <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/gone-in-60-minutes/">Morgan speaking in parliament</a> just an hour after the school had received a letter warning it had two weeks to notification of an intention to terminate its government funding. </p>
<p>The abrupt closure of the Durham Free School is already being seen by some parents as a politically motivated move that dismisses the needs of parents and pupils. One parent at the school told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can only conclude that the bad publicity that has been generated of late regarding this school is causing embarrassment to the government at a time when they are considering the future governance of the UK following the elections, and will seek to dismiss this as a failed school in order to save the others and save their face. Education should NEVER be used for political gain by any party member in this manner, but because of this I have to find a new school place for my daughter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The school’s headteacher has said <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-30906122">he will appeal</a> against the government’s decision. </p>
<p>It was far from easy to set up the school in the first place. Press reports dating back to 2012 give some indication of the levels of resistance that the school faced before finally opening its doors. Its critics, among them, a senior education officer at Durham County Council, voiced concerns that there was no need for another secondary school in the city. Dave Ford, then head of achievement services at Durham County Council <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/education/9601871.Ex_inspector__Durham_free_school_is_not_necessary/r/?ref=rss">voiced considerable concerns</a> over what he described as, “the fragmentation of funding.” Funding, that in the opinions of those opposing establishment of the new school, would have been better spent on existing schools.</p>
<h2>No sticking plaster</h2>
<p>The idea of borrowing policies from one country and applying them like a sticking plaster to another is very common in education. In the case of free schools, the English policy was largely developed from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-swedish-free-schools-reveal-about-social-segregation-24682">Swedish free school model</a>, with little heed paid to problems revealed by research. </p>
<p>One such study carried out by the Institute of Education’s Susanne Wiborg concluded that in Sweden – one of the world’s most egalitarian societies – free schools <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jul/21/swedish-style-free-schools-social-divide">increased</a> segregation and impeded social cohesion. Back in 2010, <a href="http://www.wwwords.co.uk/rss/abstract.asp?j=forum&aid=4175">she posed a number</a> of questions aimed at those intending to adopt the Swedish free school model, including whether more school choice is desirable: “if free schools do not reconcile high academic standards and social integration?”</p>
<h2>Choice and challenges</h2>
<p>Sweeping changes to the education system have brought new school freedoms designed to offer more choice to parents <a href="https://theconversation.com/columns/jacqueline-baxter-124061">combined with diminishing levels of local accountability</a>. The speed and scope of these changes are without precedent and have led to grave concerns about the quality of education and the capacity of the new system to reduce unacceptable levels of educational inequity: a problem which has <a href="https://berarespectingchildren.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/innovation-creation-or-same-old-same-old-proposals-for-educational-equity-in-2015-party-political-proposals/">dogged the English</a> system for some time now. </p>
<p>In the period since the introduction of the free schools policy there have been substantial challenges for education – not least the political conflation of education and the battle against extremist teaching. This began with the <a href="http://www.discoversociety.org/2014/07/01/policy-briefing-trojan-horse-the-media-and-the-ofsted-inspectorate-2/">the “Trojan Horse” affair</a> in Birmingham schools and continued with allegations of links to extremism in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28093835">Tower Hamlets</a> in London.</p>
<p>These events, set against a background of growing national and international unrest, have resulted in changes to education and school inspection policy that look to combat the rise of extremism. The resultant focus on the policing of <a href="http://theconversation.com/uk/topics/british-values">British values from pre-school level upwards</a> has brought a whole new dimension to the meaning of school freedom and parental choice.</p>
<h2>Where next?</h2>
<p>The free schools policy is hanging in the balance, as University of Birmingham doctoral researcher <a href="https://berarespectingchildren.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/free-schools-where-next/">Rebecca Morris</a> has pointed out in a commentary on the future of free schools. </p>
<p>It would seem that, in the case of Durham Free School, its students are paying a very high price for the so-called luxury of parental choice in a market where schools can apparently be there one moment and gone the next.</p>
<p>The seductive market ideology persists, couched in the primacy of supposed parental choice. When schools fail, we blame everyone: the teachers, the governors, the management, the inspectors. The real culprit – the ideological spectre of the market – is forgotten in all of the media frenzy and political posturing that follows.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Durham Free School is to have its government funding removed in a snap decision made by Nicky Morgan, the secretary of state for education. The move comes after a damning Ofsted report which found…Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Social Policy, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/323422014-10-01T05:32:31Z2014-10-01T05:32:31ZWith Gove looking on, Nicky Morgan promises to continue his education revolution<p>The longest and most enthusiastic applause during <a href="http://press.conservatives.com/post/98807929855/nicky-morgan-speech-to-conservative-party-conference">Nicky Morgan’s first conference speech</a> as secretary of state for education was for her predecessor Michael Gove. This seemed apt for a pre-election effort that was largely about continuity and lauding the work of the government over the past four-and-a-half years. </p>
<p>There was of course the inevitable attack on shadow education minister Tristram Hunt’s <a href="http://press.labour.org.uk/post/98055389239/speech-by-tristram-hunt-mp-to-labour-party-conference">short speech</a> at last week’s Labour conference. Overall she was there to champion the widely held view in the Conservative party – that education has been one of their biggest success stories.</p>
<p>The themes were reform and achievement, with Morgan clearly rejecting calls for a slower pace of reform and pointing to improved standards, more discipline and a greater emphasis on traditional subjects. There was also a strong emphasis on a more rigorous and business-led vocational offering through the tightening of the vocational qualification structure and the foundation of University Technical Colleges. “Standards, back, discipline, restored, expectations, high. An old culture of can’t replaced with a new culture of can.” So far, so Govian.</p>
<h2>Changes of tone, not substance</h2>
<p>But there were some minor changes of tone compared to the combative manner of her predecessor. Morgan went out of her way to praise the work of teachers and classroom assistants, stating that: “If our school story has a hero, it is … the teacher you see every day at the school gate.”</p>
<p>The general nature of this praise, as opposed to the often very specific naming of individual <a href="http://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/">teacher-bloggers</a> by Gove, was noteworthy. Morgan also put greater emphasis on the need for education to focus on broader outcomes than just the academic, highlighting an aim to “develop character, resilience and grit” and preparedness for life in young people. There was also an announcement of future efforts to more actively combat homophobic bullying. </p>
<p>In view of research showing that <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09243453.2013.840319#.VCrR0Pm0e4g">collaboration can lead to school improvement</a> Morgan’s emphasis on the value of partnership and collaboration between and within schools was welcome. There is growing evidence of the value of moving towards a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10833-013-9223-8">“coopetitive” education system</a> in which competition and co-operation co-exist.</p>
<h2>Few new policy initiatives</h2>
<p>But what was notably lacking in the speech were any major new policies. Morgan restated a recent announcement of funding for innovative ideas to promote <a href="http://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/media/news/article/4176/Secretary-of-State-Announces-Character-Building-Fund-and-Adopts-Centre-Definition-of-Character">character building</a>. She then announced the foundation of a further 35 free schools, and made a welcome pledge to reduce burdens on teachers and assure they spend more time teaching in the classroom. </p>
<p>But the latter promise remains very much in the exploratory stages: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I wish I could announce some great initiative today that would solve this problem at a stroke. I can’t do that. But I will work with the profession over the coming months to find solutions.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is not surprising, as any solution is likely to have to touch on reform of the school accountability and inspection system which drives a lot of the paperwork that teachers spend so much of their time on. Recent attacks on Ofsted by Conservatively minded educators and think-tanks <a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/media-centre/in-the-news/category/item/ofsted-not-fit-for-purpose">such as Policy Exchange</a> form an interesting backdrop in this regard.</p>
<p>Vagueness also surrounded other plans for the future, such as improving work experience by getting businesses to work more closely with schools and getting more women into science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. Laudable aims, but there was a distinct lack of detail on how to achieve them.</p>
<h2>The tension between freedom and control</h2>
<p>The speech also did nothing to address an inherent tension in Conservative education policy – that between freedom and control. The continued expansion of free schools and academies with their freedom to shape curricula, policies and practices, suggests we are moving towards a system built to provide parents with a choice between a range of competing models and visions of education and pedagogy. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the emphasis on “proper subjects” (in the words of the conference introducer, Cambridge candidate MP Chamali Fernando), inculcation of “British Values” and strengthened discipline point to a desire for a common, traditional approach.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this is a hard circle to square, and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/failing-academy-chains-highlight-hole-at-heart-of-education-policy-23954">hollowing out of the middle tier</a> of local accountability makes it even more so. Innovation in free schools, for example, will mean that not all will cleave to the “traditional curriculum” advocated by Morgan, even if <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/359483/DFE-RR286_-_Are_free_schools_using_innovative_approaches.pdf">experimentation to date</a> has mainly been in areas such as extended school days. </p>
<p>This need not be a problem, provided standards and access for all are maintained through <a href="http://theconversation.com/even-at-best-schools-kids-on-free-school-meals-are-performing-worse-than-their-peers-32006">rigorous monitoring</a>, but this does contradict some of the stated aims of the Conservatives’ current policy. Sooner or later this contradiction will have to be resolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32342/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Muijs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The longest and most enthusiastic applause during Nicky Morgan’s first conference speech as secretary of state for education was for her predecessor Michael Gove. This seemed apt for a pre-election effort…Daniel Muijs, Director of Research and Deputy Head of Southampton Education School, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/319912014-09-23T05:21:37Z2014-09-23T05:21:37ZDoes England’s education system need more devolution?<p>Devolving power to English regions and cities could offer a real chance to introduce more local oversight of the way academies and free schools are being managed.</p>
<p>Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have strong local authorities working in partnership with schools under a devolved system of local accountability.</p>
<p>But England has a centralised system with decisions made by the cabinet minister, effectively making Nicky Morgan the secretary of state for English education. Nowhere is this centralisation clearer than in the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/new-london-free-school-opens-with-just-17-pupils-9744761.html">case of academies</a> and free schools and the decision on where they should be opened. </p>
<p>Multi-academy trusts set up as companies funded through the public purse show little transparency about how they spend their money and what they spend it on, according to a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news/academy-research-report-published/">research report</a> prepared for the Education Select Committee.</p>
<p>These concerns around conflict of interests, financial mismanagement and school failure sit alongside some wider issues around how governance works within the academy and free school sector. The Trojan Horse scandal over the influence of extremist ideology in Birmingham schools has thrown the <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-trojan-horse-why-paying-school-governors-is-not-a-catch-all-solution-29500">role of school governors</a> into stark relief. As the researchers highlighted in their report: “The governance of many trusts remains problematic, with too much executive influence and an inappropriate focus on small governing bodies.”</p>
<h2>No space for local democracy</h2>
<p>In many ways the central issue here is not what decisions are being made by schools, but the fact that there is no space for local intervention, local accountability and local democracy. In the fragmented English education system that we have, the emphasis on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-school-systems-need-to-be-more-like-the-tour-de-france-24604">“self-improving system”</a> alongside a “school-led” model is frequently articulated as if there is little or no need for any local oversight or local accountability. </p>
<p>My colleague Richard Riddell’s recent work interviewing secondary headteachers on this issue, to be presented at the <a href="http://www.bera.ac.uk/">British Educational Research Association</a> conference, has shown that they regard local authorities as “largely irrelevant”. </p>
<h2>It’s just not Finnish</h2>
<p>The idea that the English education system, with more than 25,000 schools, can be run directly from the Department for Education with no local intermediary seems to be a miscalculation. Nor does it reflect the structures that those education systems rated as outstanding have put in place. </p>
<p>Finland, which consistently outperforms England in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) league tables, runs an education system that is completely state funded, has no academy-type schools, starts children in formal schooling at a later age and has a national system with local implementation and oversight. </p>
<p>A report from the Confederation of British Industry, <a href="Confederation%20of%20British%20Industry">First Steps</a>, showcases Finland as a model of an education system that delivers outstanding results both for its children and for the economy. It calculates that if we could raise our performance to match Finnish schools, a further £8 trillion could be added to GDP over the lifetime of a child born today.</p>
<h2>Return power to local authorities</h2>
<p>So will we see a renaissance in demands for some form of role for the local in the national English education system? </p>
<p>Organisations such as the think-tank Compass <a href="http://www.compassonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/78fe8b157df89dc89b_9em6b4j8f.pdf">have already started the call</a> for the creation of “a democratic middle tier” in the way schools are run in England. A <a href="http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-2015/policy-review/putting-students-and-parents-first">review</a> by the former Labour education secretary David Blunkett published in April highlighted the current “absence of transparency” in the English system. </p>
<p>Blunkett pointed to a new role for local authorities as the voice or advocate for children and young people within a wider framework of local accountability building on local enterprise partnerships and city regions.</p>
<h2>Regional commissioners</h2>
<p>The recognition that some local oversight is needed might be at the heart of the decision by Michael Gove, the former education secretary, to appoint <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-number-of-academies-and-free-schools-to-create-a-better-and-more-diverse-school-system/supporting-pages/regional-schools-commissioners-rscs">eight regional school commissioners</a> responsible for oversight of academies and free schools in England. </p>
<p>Although the appointees have local accountability to an elected board of outstanding head teachers, their existence points to a growing recognition that you can’t run schools directly from Whitehall. But such commissioners aren’t by any means democratically accountable – nor can they be seen as a counterbalance to a system run by the centre.</p>
<p>The ideas that are bubbling around the political ether about greater autonomy for local government and more devolution to areas of England may create a demand to look again at the fragmented English education system and rebalance it away from central control.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Reynolds contributed to the Compass education inquiry in a personal capacity before joining Bath Spa University. </span></em></p>Devolving power to English regions and cities could offer a real chance to introduce more local oversight of the way academies and free schools are being managed. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have…Kate Reynolds, Dean of Education, School of Education and Institute for Education, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/299292014-09-09T05:33:29Z2014-09-09T05:33:29ZThe big winners from Sweden’s for-profit ‘free’ schools are companies, not pupils<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58336/original/skw7vxzc-1409914245.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At the end of the day, who benefits?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dahlstroms/3548284681/sizes/l">Håkan Dahlström</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sweden’s free school model is often rolled out as an example by both those for and against the idea of companies running schools. One of the first countries in the world to allow schools to be run for profit, now <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc8bb3b4-29f2-11e4-914f-00144feabdc0.html">nearly a fifth</a> of students go to <em>friskola</em>, or free schools. Yet 20 years after their introduction, there is little evidence to show that pupils are the ones gaining most from the reforms. </p>
<p>Free schools – called free because they are not government-run – were introduced in 1992 in Sweden as a part of a major restructuring of the education system. The country went from a highly centralised system in which municipalities and schools had very limited influence, to one of the most decentralised systems in Europe. Behind this major reform was a centre-right government, which for the first time in post-war Sweden mustered an effective attack on the Social Democrats and the colossal welfare state. Reformers argued that increased local control over decision-making would lead to more effective school economies, greater variation and choice.</p>
<h2>For-profits drive free school growth</h2>
<p>The new government introduced school vouchers in 1992 that parents could use to send their children to either state-run schools (nine-year, all-through comprehensive schools) or newly established independent schools – the free schools. At the time, fewer than 1% of all school-age children were enrolled in independent schools, but in the years since then the private education sector, supported by public funding, has rapidly expanded. </p>
<p>The sector was not reined in by Sweden’s Social Democrats upon their return to government between 1994 and 2006. Instead, they endorsed and even strengthened it, raising state subsidies to free schools from 85% to 100%. They argued that the financial situation of parents should not determine their children’s educational opportunities.</p>
<p>This cross-party consensus was crucial for the private school sector to take off. Its growth was not driven by community groups seeking to set up new schools but rather by for-profit providers who were allowed into the “school market”. </p>
<p>In 2011, 20% of Swedish school children attended free schools at upper secondary level and 10% attended free schools at primary or lower secondary level. More than <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/Schooling%20for%20money%20-%20web%20version_0.pdf">65% of all of these schools</a> are for-profit, which translates into 13% of all Swedish schools. The not-for-profit free schools, usually offering alternative curricula or religious education, occupy a niche within the private school sector and are extremely slow growing.</p>
<h2>Are the students doing better?</h2>
<p>Since their inception, free schools have been <a href="http://www.skolverket.se/om-skolverket/andra-sprak-och-lattlast/in-english/the-swedish-national-agency-for-education-1.61968">subject to research</a>, primarily concerned with two issues: student attainment and educational inequality. When it comes to attainment, numerous studies have been produced with mixed results. Generally, they show that free schools haven’t improved student attainment to such a degree that the model is desirable for other countries to copy. </p>
<p>Research by Swedish academics Anders Böhlmark and Mikael Lindahl has found that <a href="http://repec.iza.org/dp2786.pdf">an increase</a> in the free school share in a municipality moderately improves short-term educational outcomes for 15 to 16-year-olds. However, they <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp3691.pdf">do not find any</a> impact on medium or long-term educational outcomes. </p>
<p>In other words, the advantage that children schooled in areas with free schools have by the age of 16 is not translated into greater achievements later in life. They score no better than children educated in government-run schools in final exams in upper secondary education at the age of 18 and 19. They are also no more likely to participate in higher education than those who were schooled in areas without free schools. </p>
<p>There is an ongoing debate in Sweden as to whether the slightly higher achievement at the earlier age may be attributed to grade inflation. Even if this is not the case, the short-term effect is still too small to yield any long-term positive effects for young people.</p>
<h2>More social segregation</h2>
<p>On the issue of educational inequality, <a href="http://repec.iza.org/dp2786.pdf">national studies</a> show that use of school choice has augmented social and ethnic segregation in Sweden, particularly in relation to schools in deprived areas.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm">2012 Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA) data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development put this issue into the limelight, when it showed that Sweden’s results in reading, maths and science had declined – in part as a result of increasing social inequality. </p>
<p>A more uneven distribution of children from social groups across schools <a href="http://www.llakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Z.-Regimes-of-Social-Cohesion.pdf">leads to lower results</a>, because children’s academic achievement depends largely on the characteristics of their peers.</p>
<p>Although there are not enough free schools to have had a strong impact on the 2012 PISA results, they are nevertheless a contributing factor. Albeit on a small scale, free schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-swedish-free-schools-reveal-about-social-segregation-24682">have increased social segregation,</a> even in the context of the relatively egalitarian education system. </p>
<h2>Cutting costs</h2>
<p>The main beneficiaries of Sweden’s free schools seem to be the education businesses making profit, not children. Although a few businesses, such as <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6341728">JB Education</a> have recently gone bankrupt, it is generally a thriving sector. </p>
<p>Government funding is attached to the number of pupils at a school, so free schools are incentivised to prioritise quantity over quality. </p>
<p>In order to cut salary costs – the most expensive item on the school budget – free schools employ a higher number of unqualified teacher assistants than in the state schools. Those who are qualified are generally younger and less experienced. The teachers in free schools are also responsible for a higher number of students than in the state sector.</p>
<p>Innovation appears to be primarily based on the extensive use of technology and individual learning skills, reducing face-to-face contact between teachers and students. In addition, unlike government schools, free schools are not required to have science labs, libraries and school nurses, all elements which help in reducing costs.</p>
<h2>Quantity over quality</h2>
<p>In turn, the focus on quantity over quality has resulted in increased government regulation of education. The main examples of this have been the re-centralisation of the national curriculum in 2011, which all schools in Sweden must abide by, alongside more regulation of teachers’ practices. </p>
<p>If the aim of education is to reconcile high achievement and social integration (Finland serving as an <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/46581035.pdf">excellent example</a>), it can be concluded that Sweden’s free schools have had the opposite effect. </p>
<p>Consumer surveys show, perhaps surprisingly, that Swedish parents are generally happy with the free schools. However, they are critical of taxpayers’ money going straight to the businesses. In that respect, the free schools have remained controversial since their birth. </p>
<p>The Swedish experience shows that allowing for-profit providers into the “school market” has not lead to increased standards and improved schools, but instead permitted another vested interest into education in pursuit of aims above those of childrens’ education, in this respect: profit. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of series on for-profit education. Read the other <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/for-profit-education">articles in the series here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susanne Wiborg receives funding from the ESRC. </span></em></p>Sweden’s free school model is often rolled out as an example by both those for and against the idea of companies running schools. One of the first countries in the world to allow schools to be run for…Susanne Wiborg, Reader in Education, Department of Lifelong and Comparative Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/291902014-07-15T11:02:26Z2014-07-15T11:02:26ZGove’s revolution leaves behind a fast-food education system<p>In what must surely be seen as a significant demotion, secretary of state for education, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28302487">Michael Gove, has been moved</a> to become chief whip in David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle. Given he is such a big fan of “discipline” and “rigour”, he may be perfectly suited to the role – only time will tell whether MPs will be as difficult to keep in line as teachers.</p>
<p>So after four years in charge of education, what is Gove’s legacy? It has been revolution at warp speed. Thanks to his rush, instead of creating the multi-Michelin starred, world-leading restaurant he so desired, what Gove built instead (with help from the previous Labour government) was a fast food joint.</p>
<p>A list of his reforms is dizzying. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-000-down-20-000-to-go-the-academies-drive-gathers-pace-26028">number of academies</a> has risen from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">203 to 3,979</a> (with 56% of English secondaries now converted). There are now 174 free schools with even more autonomy. We have a brand new “core knowledge” national curriculum, plus reform of GCSEs including the ending of modular assessment. </p>
<p>Teachers have seen the scrapping of national pay frameworks and the introduction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-remain-divided-on-performance-related-pay-27664">performance-related pay</a>. But at the same time, academies are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19017544">no longer required</a> to employ people with Qualified Teacher Status. </p>
<p>There have been radical changes to assessment in primary schools plus a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-look-gcse-league-tables-reconfirm-wide-disparities-between-schools-22793">new system called “progress 8”</a> to replace the five A star to Cs accountability measure in secondary schools. Ofsted is <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/ofsted-carry-out-no-notice-behaviour-inspections-response-concerns-of-parents-0">now planning to start</a> inspecting schools with no notice, in reaction to criticisms that have come after the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/focus-on-test-scores-over-curriculum-leaves-big-questions-for-ofsted-after-trojan-horse-27772">Trojan Horse</a> extremist plot in Birmingham schools. </p>
<p>Gove’s reforms have also seen the replacement of university-based teacher training with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-the-costs-of-moving-teacher-training-out-of-universities-23157">expansion of the school-based School Direct</a> programme. It’s hard to remember them all as they’ve come so thick and fast.</p>
<h2>Govian revolution</h2>
<p>Since the 2010 election, speed has perhaps been the defining factor of the Govian Revolution in English education reform. He was right on both counts when he <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/michael-gove-speaks-about-securing-our-childrens-future">said recently</a> that “the pace of change in our education system recently has been fast – and the reaction at times furious.” </p>
<p>In fact, Dominic Cummings, his now well-known former advisor, has said recently that Gove would have moved even “<a href="http://schoolsimprovement.net/gove-ally-savages-no-10-on-schools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gove-ally-savages-no-10-on-schools">faster, further, better</a>” had it had not been for “dysfunctional” civil servants and incompetence at Number 10.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine what else Gove might have done. But schools and teachers across the country should perhaps be grateful for the various Sir Humphreys who stopped it.</p>
<p>In political terms, what Gove achieved in office was remarkable and makes him possibly the stand-out minister of the coalition government. For many <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100220069/osborne-was-the-future-once-now-gove-drives-the-tories-on/">Conservatives he is a hero</a> – his policies constituting a long-wanted shopping list of right-wing educational reforms. </p>
<p>There is also little doubt that many of his reforms will be long lasting and will permanently change the face of education. Academy policy in England is the most obvious example, but <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26405714">the Labour party has said</a> that with the exception of the policy on non-qualified teachers, they wouldn’t repeal the Coalition’s other education reforms either. In historical terms, no education secretary achieved so much in their time of office. Long gone are the days when politicians felt education should be <a href="http://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/thatcher-and-education/">left to those who knew what they were talking about</a>.</p>
<h2>Bland food on the menu</h2>
<p>But political success must not be confused with educational success and the Gove Fast Food Restaurant will make no improvement to the nation’s long term educational diet. Schools and teachers are now obsessed by meeting the short-term numerical targets that Gove’s regime has created. So much so, that they serve an increasingly limited and impoverished pedagogical menu, designed purely for profit in key exams rather than genuine long-term nourishment of the mind. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pedagogical menu akin to fast food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/roboppy/9504004273/sizes/l">roboppy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The food may meet short-term cravings, but it is ultimately bland, unsatisfying and hollow. Schools know the menu has limited nutritional value, but there is little they can do about it. </p>
<p>The pressure to deliver the menu as quickly as they can is creating <a href="https://www.teachersassurance.co.uk/money-news/teachers-stress-levels-affecting-performance">alarming levels of stress</a> among employees, nearly half of whom are seriously considering <a href="http://www.comres.co.uk/poll/1068/nasuwt-teachers-satisfaction-and-wellbeing-in-the-workplace-survey.htm">looking for other forms of employment</a>.</p>
<p>The speed of the Govian Revolution, however, may ultimately lead to its unravelling. Again, the academies policy is the most glaring example of this, with increasing acceptance that the department for education cannot cope with the number of schools they are now responsible for – something formally acknowledged with the creation of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regional-schools-commissioners-to-oversee-academies">Regional Schools Commissioners</a> to oversee academies. </p>
<p>A more thought-out idea may have been to create these before academy policy was turbo charged. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ofsteds-future-at-stake-after-trojan-horse-scandal-25936">The Trojan Horse</a> allegations are unlikely to be the last education story where a sudden lack of oversight causes problems.</p>
<h2>Shift of powers</h2>
<p>What the Gove Fast Food Education Restaurant represents is the apogee of a power-grab by politicians that can be traced back to Jim Callaghan’s famous <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/speeches/1976ruskin.html">“Secret Garden” speech</a> at Ruskin College in 1976. </p>
<p>The main feature of the past 40 years of school reform is increasing centralisation. Education has been run more and more at the whim of political ideology and the career expediency of the minister holding the keys to the department for education. Despite his neoliberal, free market views, Gove’s four years in charge have actually been characterised by a dramatic speeding up of a move towards “big government”.</p>
<p>Many teachers will feel like rejoicing at today’s news, but history suggests their happiness will be short-lived. It is highly unlikely that Gove’s replacement, Nicky Morgan, or future holders of the education secretary portfolio (from whatever party) will decrease the number of cards the government now holds. This means that schools and teachers should prepare themselves for permanent revolution. </p>
<p>Ironically, when we collectively come to our senses and realise that there are better ways to feed our nation’s young minds than the fast food diet they currently receive, there may be many in the profession who are grateful that actions can be taken quickly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham Birrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In what must surely be seen as a significant demotion, secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, has been moved to become chief whip in David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle. Given he is such a big fan…Graham Birrell, Senior Lecturer in Education, Canterbury Christ Church UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/278322014-06-17T05:10:29Z2014-06-17T05:10:29ZExplainer: what was the Louisiana school takeover?<p>The Department for Education has been scrambling to end the crisis over allegations of extremism at Muslim schools in Birmingham (the so-called Trojan Horse affair). Among all the ideas floated, one, the “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/09/downing-street-launches-snap-ofsted-visits-after-extremism-claims">Louisiana option</a>” of a full-scale government takeover of the schools in question, has started to arouse serious interest. </p>
<p>While hardly a simple solution, New Orleans’s radical attempt to turn around its failing school district has understandable appeal at such a fraught moment – and it’s a natural test case for officials in Birmingham and Westminster to use.</p>
<h2>Segregation</h2>
<p>In the 1840s, the City of New Orleans founded the <a href="http://www.opennola.org/home/pictures-videos/">first major urban public school system</a> in the American South. But in a city made up of waves of multilingual immigrants, enslaved Africans, and free people of colour, reaching consensus on the purposes and structure of a public education system has never been easy. </p>
<p>The racially segregated public school system of the <a href="http://plessyandferguson.org/events.html">Plessy era</a> came to a close after the 1954 <a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/federal-court-activities/brown-board-education-re-enactment/history.aspx">Brown v. Board of Education</a> decision, and the forced <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/11/fifty_years_later_students_rec.html">desegregation of New Orleans Public Schools</a> took place in 1960. The school system became nearly all poor. Most middle class and non-white students either left for private schools or moved to nearby suburbs. </p>
<p>Intended primarily for the poor, Now Orleans’s public schools were chronically underfunded, suffered from <a href="http://www.neworleansleftbehind.com/">poor results</a>, and were <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/03/former_orleans_parish_school_b.html">frequently mismanaged</a>. While generations of educators, both <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/03/former_orleans_parish_school_b.html">black</a> and <a href="http://www.octaviabooks.com/event/robert-m-ferris-flood-conflict-new-orleans-free-school-story">white</a>, served admirably in <a href="http://www.octaviabooks.com/event/robert-m-ferris-flood-conflict-new-orleans-free-school-story">difficult conditions</a>, the schools still struggled. </p>
<h2>Bankruptcy</h2>
<p>After the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, student test data was made public annually, and showed <a href="http://cis.uchicago.edu/outreach/summerinstitute/2013/documents/sti2013_perry_thetransformationofneworleanspubliceducation.pdf">just how far behind New Orleans’ students were</a> compared with their peers across the state. And while academic achievement improved steadily in the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, state policymakers viewed the school district and its predominantly African American students and teachers as a thorn in the side of the powerful economy of this historic city. </p>
<p>A month after Katrina, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Leslie Jacobs stated in a <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4944196">radio interview</a> that the district “was academically bankrupt, it was financially bankrupt, and it was operationally bankrupt … the central office ability to support schools was not there. So pre-Katrina, one could argue that Orleans public schools could vie for being one of the worst districts in the nation.”</p>
<p>Following suit, on November 31 2005, three months after the hurricane and with most residents still not able to return home, the state removed nearly all of the schools from the locally elected school board and placed them under the control of the state-run Recovery School District.</p>
<p>This was achieved by adding a clause to a 2003 state takeover bill that allowed to state to define a “district in academic crisis” as any local school district with more than half of the schools deemed as failing based on student test scores. This meant any school performing below the state average (rather than simply a school with inadequate annual growth) could be taken over. </p>
<p>In turn, this allowed the transfer of nearly all local schools to state control and, crucially, to the dismissal of nearly 7,000 school district employees, who could not be paid by a district that now only received funds for the few remaining schools under its control. Due to the extreme displacement of the city’s population, there was <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ784847.pdf">little effective opposition</a> to the move.</p>
<h2>Mixed bag</h2>
<p>To date, <a href="http://neworleansparentsguide.org/files/NOPG2014.pdf">79 of New Orleans’ 85 public schools</a> (93%) are charter schools. The largest group (59 schools) are charters overseen by the state-run Recovery School District, with some schools run by the local school board and a few by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Ten non-profit charter management organisations run 42 of the RSD charters, with the remainder each governed by its own non-profit board. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/NBTN-Test-Performance.pdf">Test scores have continued to rise</a>, as they had been doing prior to Hurricane Katrina, but academic performance is still below average for Louisiana students. With the dismissal of many pre-storm teachers, and a rapid expansion in the numbers of young, alternatively certified teachers, the teaching force has become <a href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/SPENO-20121.pdf">increasingly inexperienced</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RAND_TR1145.pdf">2009 RAND survey</a> found that parents tended to be satisfied with their schools, and have <a href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Choice-Focus-Groups-FINAL-small.pdf">enjoyed greater school choice</a> in the nearly all-charter system. The pro-market Fordham Institute named New Orleans the <a href="http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/publications/2010/201008_SchoolReformCities/Fordham_SchoolReform_Final_Complete.pdf">best US city for school reform</a> in 2010 and both the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/oii-news/national-conference-highlights-federal-grants-charter-schools">federal Department of Education</a> and <a href="http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/laura-and-john-arnold-foundation-announces-25-million-investment-support-high-performing-charter-sch">private funders</a> have heaped praise (and money) on the reforms. </p>
<p>As other cities have eyed the New Orleans reform, powerful local reform support organisation <a href="http://www.newschoolsforneworleans.org/">New Schools for New Orleans</a> has published a <a href="http://www.newschoolsforneworleans.org/a-guide-for-cities">Guide for Cities</a> interested in implementing New Orleans-style reforms.</p>
<p>However, there have also been persistent criticisms of inequitable service for <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/access-denied/special-education-in-new-orleans-public-schools">students with special needs</a> and <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/access-denied/security-and-safety-in-new-orleans-public-schools">stringent discipline policies</a> that push out challenging students. Critics have also raised legitimate concerns about the <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3dd2726h">lack of local community participation</a> and <a href="http://www.j4jalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/J4JReport-final_05_12_14.pdf">racially-targeted school closures</a>. In January 2014, the teachers dismissed after the storm <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/01/7000_new_orleans_teachers_laid.html">won in state court</a>, setting the stage for possibly crippling back payments. </p>
<p>Nearly ten years into the reform, it seems clear that these decisions will ultimately help raise student achievement from its admittedly very low baseline. Mass conversion to charter schools, heavy reliance on inexperienced teachers, and a lack of centralised control have allowed the state to easily support the expansion of higher-performing schools and shut down lower-performing ones. It therefore comes as no surprise than citywide averages are up, and this is worth applauding. </p>
<p>But some of the policies that have made the past ten years of growth possible might also make it more difficult for New Orleans’s schools to be excellent, rather than just acceptable or mediocre. Until the city can re-establish <a href="http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=beabout">school and community linkages</a>, keep experienced educators in classrooms, and sufficiently educate the hardest-to-serve youngsters, we will not know if we have seen temporary gains or truly sustainable reforms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Robert Beabout does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Department for Education has been scrambling to end the crisis over allegations of extremism at Muslim schools in Birmingham (the so-called Trojan Horse affair). Among all the ideas floated, one, the…Brian Robert Beabout, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership , University of New OrleansLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/273582014-06-16T04:48:09Z2014-06-16T04:48:09ZExplainer: how do free schools allocate places?<p>As a type of academy operating outside of local authority control, free schools act as their own admissions authority. They can choose the criteria they wish to use to prioritise the allocation of places.</p>
<p>In light of concerns raised in a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/establishing-free-schools-report-substantive/">recent parliamentary report</a> that free schools are not being set up <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-free-schools-the-answer-to-26469">in areas of greatest demand for new places</a>, the issue of who can get into free schools has gained more importance. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2014.921614">research</a> on secondary free schools in England looked at what criteria they are using and what potential impact this can have on the intakes of schools. What’s clear is the diversity and, in some cases, the complexity of the oversubscription criteria being used by the schools. </p>
<p>Such diversity is perhaps not surprising considering that at the heart of the free schools policy are notions of independence, individuality and autonomy. Like all other state-funded schools, free schools must adhere to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code">School Admissions Code</a>. But their power to prioritise the allocation of places results in them having considerable influence over their overall intakes. </p>
<p>This ability to prioritise places through oversubscription criteria is only applicable where the school is oversubscribed. Where it is not, the school is obliged to take every child that has applied. </p>
<p>But there appears to be confusion on the figures around oversubscription. In a recent survey, the government reported <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/parents-flock-to-free-schools">that free schools had three applicants</a> for every place. But <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/70-per-cent-of-free-schools-not-filled-two-years-after-opening-labour-claims-9278569.html">data analysis published soon after by the Labour party</a> said that 70% of free schools were not full two years after opening. </p>
<h2>Lotteries and banding</h2>
<p>Random allocation of students to schools can be an effective way of tackling the imbalanced intakes which result when children are admitted based on their proximity to a school. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code">School Admissions Code</a> prevents local authorities from using random ballots, or lotteries, as their principal method to decide who gets in if they are oversubscribed, yet schools responsible for their own admissions are not subject to this restriction. A handful of free schools have opted to use this method for admitting <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10663353/More-schools-should-allocate-places-using-lotteries.html">some of their intakes</a>, although it is still too soon to know the impact that it might have had on student composition.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/publications/banding-and-ballots/">Sutton Trust report</a> advocates the use of ability <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-fair-banding-for-secondary-schools-23661">banding</a> as a way of creating more comprehensive intakes. A small proportion of free schools such as Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford and Corby Technical School in Corby have opted to employ this as part of their admissions procedures. But as of 2013 just two secondary schools, Greenwich Free School and Hackney New School in London, used it within a wider local banding system that takes in other schools and ensures a more representative intake.</p>
<h2>Prioritising applicants</h2>
<p>The majority of free schools use some form of geographical criteria in prioritising applications. Some decide their <a href="http://collectivespirit.org.uk/oldham/about-us/policies/admissions-policy/">own catchment areas</a>, select certain <a href="http://www.kings.ac/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Kings-Science-Academy-Policy-2.pdf">postcode districts</a>, or include specific “nodal points” which are used as a reference to measure proximity from.</p>
<p>One school, the Bristol Free School, states that <a href="http://www.bristolfreeschool.org.uk/admissionscriteria.php">20% of remaining places</a> (after those admitted on medical or sibling grounds) will be allocated to those living closest to the school. The remaining 80% will be assigned based on living closest to a point nearly two miles away from the school <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Free-school-wants-students-come-postcode-area/story-14994620-detail/story.html">in a reportedly more affluent area</a>. In 2012-2013, the free school had just 12.5% of children eligible for free school meals compared with 22.5% across all of the city’s secondaries.</p>
<p>Clearly, the admissions policies used by schools can play an important role in <a href="https://theconversation.com/growth-of-academies-and-free-schools-reinforces-student-segregation-19411">determining the intakes and levels of social stratification</a> between schools. </p>
<p>Proximity criteria, which prioritise those living nearest the school, are used by the majority of secondary free schools and are often included as a way of trying to reflect the local community. But such criteria can also reflect the high levels of residential segregation seen in many English cities, thus reinforcing divisions rather than challenging them. This also means that successful schools can only be accessed by those able to afford to live nearby.</p>
<p>Some free schools have a faith designation, and therefore use faith-based admission criteria to prioritise entry for 50% of their students. Currently, 35 of the 174 free schools in England use faith admissions criteria. </p>
<p>Increasing the number of schools which use religious criteria to admit children can only be viewed as a threat in the quest for fairer admissions, more balanced intakes and a more cohesive society. While providing a religious ethos might accommodate the preferences of the particular group establishing a free school, it simultaneously makes the school less accessible to other families. </p>
<p>All of the secondary religious free schools include faith criteria which adhere to the School Admissions Code. But the allocation of places to 50% of applicants based on faith could considerably increase the possibility of socioeconomic and ethnic segregation. In some faith schools, it is also likely that the proportion of children from a particular religion would be even higher than 50% if the schools do not attract enough families from different faiths or no faith. </p>
<p>Free schools are allowed to openly select 10% of their intake on aptitude for certain subjects. A significant minority of the free schools are opting to use these methods of allocating places despite concerns that they <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/nov/01/faith-schools-admissions-unfair">do not promote fair, equitable access for all children</a>.</p>
<h2>Local authority admissions</h2>
<p>The introduction of more schools using both overt and covert methods of selecting students should be viewed as concerning in itself. Yet it is also worth observing that the admissions criteria used by many free schools are frequently identical or very similar to those used by their local authorities for community schools. </p>
<p>Examples of this can be seen in Birmingham, Lambeth, Kent, East Sussex and other areas, perhaps highlighting a commitment towards cooperation with local authorities and a desire to offer consistency and simplicity to parents during the admissions process.</p>
<p>These reasons for using similar admissions policies and processes are positive, but it must also be remembered that like free schools, the vast majority of local authorities use geographical criteria, and consequently their schools can be affected by the issues raised above.</p>
<p>In aiming for a more equitable system for school admissions it is therefore going to be necessary to look beyond what a relatively small number of free schools are doing. Instead, the focus needs to be on a system-wide reform which promotes fairer allocation procedures in all schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Morris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As a type of academy operating outside of local authority control, free schools act as their own admissions authority. They can choose the criteria they wish to use to prioritise the allocation of places…Rebecca Morris, PhD Researcher in Education, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.