On 9 March 2015, David Cameron announced that a Conservative Government would open 500 more free schools by 2020, creating 270,000 school places. He argued this demonstrated the Conservatives are the only party to actively encourage the education system to create more school places. But what is the direction of travel for the Conservatives’ education project?
Free schools were part of the Conservative 2010 manifesto which promised to ensure more children had access to high quality education. Based on international experience, it proposed the introduction of free schools and the creation of more academies. The objective was to increase school places and to improve the quality and range of education available. Since the last General Election, 252 free schools have opened and over 2,000 schools have become academies.
Free schools can be set up by groups of parents, teachers, charities, businesses, universities, trusts, religious or voluntary groups and are funded directly by central government. They are independent of the local authorities and do not have to follow the national curriculum. The autonomous nature of the schools means they have greater control over teachers’ pay and length of term times.
Moreover, this has granted a great opportunity to create more schools which specifically focus on children who need greater support or more specific educational needs.
But have these schools achieved the objective of educating children? On 27 January, the Education Select Committee published their report, ‘Academies and Free Schools’. The overall conclusion was neither positive nor negative, and was ambivalent in its assessment of the impact free schools have had on performance. The Select Committee appears to suggest more political will is required in encouraging free schools in areas of need, but seems to have stayed firmly on the fence in terms of what they think the future impact of free schools on performance will be. Ofsted has been as equally cautious, reserving judgment as to the success of free schools.
Yet the fact that 71% of free schools assessed were considered either “Outstanding” or “Good” shows they are definitely on the right track. Furthermore, research has shown the positive effect that the competition from free schools has had on other local state schools. A 2014 report highlights the example of a headteacher who, on the opening of a free school, re-evaluated his provision and raised GCSE attainment by 25%.
So while free schools appear to have gone some way in improving standards of education, is the initiative reducing the shortage of school places? The initial evidence suggests that school places are increasing but not in the right areas. 35% were opened in areas where there was no need and 52% were where there was only moderate need. In order to justify the investment into free schools to the electorate at a time of public sector cuts, the Conservative Party needs to show that the policy is effectively addressing the problems within the education system.
Having acknowledged this initial problem, the Department of Education added further requirements to a free school application. Impact assessments as to how the school will affect the local community are now required. This appears to have led to more favourable statistics. According to the New Schools Network, free schools are ten times more likely to be in the most deprived areas and, in addition to this, of those that opened in September 2014, 90% of primary schools were opened in areas where there was a predicted shortage of places – and this increased to 100% in London.
This demonstrates the improvement in targeting and recognising where help is most needed to boost the number of school places available. To encourage further free schools to be set up, greater awareness is required, particularly in areas where there remains a shortage of places or where there is a low standard of local education, to make free schools resemble less of a risky experimentation and more of a plausible alternative. One way to do this, as recommended by the Select Committee, would be to publish further information after the schools have opened, to demonstrate the impact on the local community. The publication of information demonstrating a positive impact on local communities would encourage more free schools to be built in areas of deprivation and oversubscription.
Therefore, whilst further work needs to be done to ensure that free schools are targeting those that need it most, the initial evidence demonstrates that free schools have and will continue to contribute not only to the improvement of the quality of education but will also help ensure that all children have access to the education they deserve.