I have decided not to run as an independent at the next election. As readers of this column may know, I want to set up a grammar school in Acton and my plan was to run on this issue. However, most of my supporters would be people who would otherwise vote Conservative, thereby making it more likely that the Labour candidate would win. This is particularly true of my constituency, which is a three-way marginal. That seems downright crazy, particularly as the Conservative party’s education policy has so much going for it. The Tories may not be in favour of creating any new grammar schools, but they seem genuinely committed to making it easier for people like me to start ‘free schools’ — the so-called Swedish model. And while those schools cannot be selective, they will have more autonomy than existing state schools. Consequently, I’ll be supporting Angie Bray, the local Conservative candidate.
Assuming the Tories win and make good on their promised reforms, I will devote my energies to setting up a ‘comprehensive grammar’, that is, a free school that is as near as dammit to an old-fashioned grammar — traditional curriculum, competitive sports, a strong public service ethos, etc — except that it will have a comprehensive intake. My model will be Marr College, a grant-aided Scottish comprehensive founded in the 1920s. In its heyday, when it was run by a combination of an independent trust and the Ayrshire Education Authority, Marr College was the best comprehensive in the country, achieving exam results comparable with those of Scotland’s grammar schools. This in spite of the fact that it was based in Troon, hardly one of Scotland’s most affluent towns. Its success was down to rigorous streaming and its philosophy of challenging all its pupils to push themselves to the limit of their ability. Inevitably, Marr College ran afoul of the local council and was taken under full control of the local education authority. Today, it is simply an average comprehensive.
Given that the Conservatives aren’t going to budge on the issue of admission by academic selection, trying to set up a version of Marr College seems like my best bet. However, the Tories do need to be a little more flexible in another area — they need to allow free schools to be run for profit. At present, the policy is to allow only non-profit-making bodies to start free schools. There are two reasons why this won’t work. First, if you exclude private companies, it is unlikely that enough free schools will be set up in the Conservatives’ first term for their education policy to be judged a success and embraced by all political parties. Given that the Tories may not be re-elected, the only way to safeguard those free schools that have been started is if enough have been set up to make it politically impossible for their successors to reverse the policy. That’s exactly what happened in Sweden after the policy was introduced by a conservative administration in 1992, but only because the Swedish government made it possible for free schools to be run for profit. Today, the largest free school chain in Sweden, Kunskapsskolan, runs 30 schools, employs 700 staff and teaches nearly 10,000 pupils.
Second, without the involvement of the private sector the cost of setting up free schools will have to be met by the government and that makes it probable that the Tories will either water down the policy or abandon it altogether once they’re in office. Take the school I want to set up. The start-up costs will be considerable, given that I will have to acquire a suitable site, convert it for school use and then hire a full complement of staff. My plan is to admit 300 pupils in total, but I’ll only be able to fill the school at the rate of one class a year which means it will run at a loss for at least the first five years of its existence. Who’s going to pay for all that? The Department of Education? If the Tories don’t allow existing private school providers like Gems and Cognita — and, indeed, Kunskapsskolan — to form partnerships with people like me, I can’t see an alternative.
No doubt allowing companies to run free schools for profit will open the Conservatives up to the charge of wanting to ‘privatise’ state education. But I believe that’s an argument they can win — and without allowing private sector involvement the policy cannot succeed.
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