Laura McInerney

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Fiona Millar: The Local Schools Network goes head to head with the New Schools Network

This morning I took part in a debate with the New Schools Network's Rachel Wolf on the BBC's Woman's Hour. It was the second time in the past month that Rachel and I have crossed swords on the issue of free schools and the part they will play in the English education system. Last time was for a longer discussion ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by thechandra: "Is thrre a way I can contact you to ask where you got this data from about Dorothy stringer v Patcham. V interesting and confirms my observations about schools downgrading SEN and diverting SEN funds (including statemented funds) to ......"

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Fiona Millar: How can free schools know all their teachers will be ‘outstanding’ and their class sizes small?

I was pleased to see that I am not the only person perplexed by the promise made by nearly all free school proposers that the teaching in their school will be outstanding. This claim appeared most recently in the website of the school being set up by my former colleague Peter Hyman. Now Laura McInerney, author of the excellent pamphlet ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "But if the Education Bill goes through Parliament the Secretary of State will have the power to "intervene" and close such a school irrespective of the wishes of parents. So much for freedom, parental choice and localism...."

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Fiona Millar: Pursuit of the collective, rather than individual, good will become fashionable again – this pamphlet explains why

An interesting little booklet has just been published. Called ‘The Six Predictable Failures of Free Schools and how to avoid them’. It is written by teacher Laura McInerney, who occasionally comments on this site, and published by LKMco, a consultancy run by McInerney and fellow teacher Loic Menzies.  It injects a note of realism into the overly ideological (and idealistic) ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Peter Deltold: "The pamphlet is a self help manual for free schoolers. It deliberately falls short of addressing many of the fundamentals of free schools and education because that would require a wider analysis which makes it difficult to justify their existence. ......"

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