There are signs that the DFE is recognising the weaknesses in its free school applicationsĀ process. According to this
report, new details of how applications will work in practice were explained at a conference for free school founders on Saturday. Meanwhile the
New Schools Network and the
DFE also warn proposers on their websites that the application process is changing and that no new proposals can be accepted until the new assessment process is in place. Most significantly it looks as though the Stage 2 proposal form part of the procedure - the stage at which free school proposers can put in vague estimates of demand and get money in return to develop their plans - is being dispensed with. Instead Stage 2 is being rolled into the next stage and proposers will have to provide a more detailed business case and educational plan before they can attract any funding. This will include information about curriculum, admissions and affordability, including contingency planning in the case of places not being filled.
LKM Consulting an organisation present at the conference, which doesn't appear to have been heavily publicised, reported that the announcement caused' quite a stir' with potential founders who felt the original idea of harnessing individual parent and teacher energy would be sacrificed in favour of bids being managed by big chains like
Ark, something contributors to this site have always suspected was the real government aim.However the change of heart may also signal a recognition that the initial flurry of publicity about free schools attracted groups who either don't have the capacity to set up or run a new school, or who may not have the best motives, and therefore should be discounted and certainly not given public funds at such an early stage.
This process doesn't yet include the possibility that more than one group will come forward if there is indeed a demonstrable need for a new school in a given area. As I suggested
here in an earlier post the Labour government's competition procedure should be re-introduced so that potential school bidders are required to make a public and open case for why they should be chosen to run any new school, this process should include bids for maintained schools ( VA, foundation or trust) and allow local authorities to enter bids if that is what local parents want.
Comments
You are right, if people want to have locally accountable schools it will be important that when schools are up for 'franchise' that the local authority is equally able to compete.
Yes I should make clear that it is me, not LKMCo that judges this process to be faulty at present. I think if it is being reviewed , someone somewhere must think there is something wrong with it and I would agree with that assessment. As I wrote in my Guardian Education column last week, the Stage 2 proposal form as it currently stands doesn't require sufficient evidence to prove that a new school will be viable and we have already seen, from contributors to this site, examples of very flimsy evidence being produced to justify the need for new schools, including petitions signed by people who live in other parts of the country and the world!
Absolutely, we need a fair and open competition process so that LAs can compete with other providers if they choose.
Just read Laura's other blog and agree that this is probably what the government really wants - 20 or 30, or maybe even fewer, companies running all the schools in the country. They will just be like private local authorities, performing many of the same functions, although not accountable to local people in the same way ( who judges when they fail - the S o S?) . Some will be good, some bad and some mediocre, rather like the train companies.
If schools end up being franchised like train operators then this raises the question of what happens when a school operator finds it is no longer willing or able to run its group of schools. We could have a situation where the Government has to take back the running of the franchise (like the East Coast Main Line) at considerable cost to the taxpayer - a cost which could be avoided if schools are left under local authority control.
In terms of cost, it's not really an issue because if a school fails and is operated by an LA associated costs are still soaked up by the taxpayer. The issue is more one of local accountability and choice. The decision of who will operate the school will go to Central Government rather than the local authority, meaning decisions about a school's future will be taken at a level far out of reach to most ordinary people. Seems an odd way to get local communities involved in schools!
Does that mean the New Schools Network can be wound up?
Is the number of staff assigned to work on free schools disproportionate?
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