The revolution starts now

Why would a parent want to set up their own school? Aren’t exhausted parents busy enough without doing the job of the state as well? This has become the latest line of attack on the Conservatives’ radical proposals for school reform, launched this week.

Why would a parent want to set up their own school? Aren’t exhausted parents busy enough without doing the job of the state as well? This has become the latest line of attack on the Conservatives’ radical proposals for school reform, launched this week. The media seems obsessed with this canard — perhaps after decades of central control, the concept of liberalisation is hard for them to grasp — but communicating it clearly must now become a priority for the government.

The schools reform proposals which Michael Gove and David Laws devised in opposition do indeed allow parents to set up a school, but, more importantly, they allow for new companies, including teacher groups, to start them. And new schools are no threat to any decent existing school: they’ll only be in demand where discontent with existing schools is the highest, where children most urgently need help. The unions say that parents don’t want such schools: if this is the case, none will appear. This is the beauty of the proposed system.

The reform’s main objective is to remove the obstacles that prevent worried parents joining forces with education experts; to take down the barriers between school providers and parents interested in their services. Whether the reforms succeed or not depends on what happens in the next few weeks. If Mr Gove’s bill is made law this summer, then the first of these new ‘free schools’ will begin recruiting pupils and staff this autumn and open next year.