Struggling free schools have been earmarked for special fast-track attention by the government because of the potential for serious political embarrassment for education secretary, Michael Gove, if they should fail,
Would you buy a Free School from this man?
Marked “Official – Sensitive”, the confidential papers warn that the “political ramifications of any more free schools being judged inadequate are very high and speedy intervention is essential”.
Gove’s flagship policy of allowing groups to set up schools outside the supervision of local education authorities has been the subject of a barrage of bad publicity in recent months. Four free schools have been declared inadequate by Sir Michael Wilshaw’s Ofsted, with one of those, the Discovery New School in Crawley, West Sussex, closing down last week.
The leaked document shows that the Department for Education wants to tackle the problems at inadequate free schools before their failings are made public by Ofsted, at which point they can be used as political ammunition. It suggests that party political considerations are now driving education policy a year ahead of the general election, provoking one union leader to claim that the public would be “appalled”.
The revelation is in a 40-page document prepared for academies minister Lord Nash ahead of a meeting on 19 March with senior civil servants at the department for education. In the document, which deals with the accountability of free schools and academies, it is proposed that ministers will monitor free schools through private education advisers and be responsible for making key early decisions on tackling problems because of the risk of major political fallout further down the road.
In contrast, turning around failing community schools is often a protracted process requiring Ofsted to make a ruling that they are inadequate before concerted action is taken. Around 350 such schools have been in special measures for more than a year.
The document, entitled Future Academy System: Lord Nash session, also highlights problems that new free schools are facing, despite ministers’ public stance being that the programme is proving a success. It says: “Experience has shown us that free schools in their first years of operation are different from other open academies, and face problems that are often not educational in origin.
“These often include operating in temporary sites without a clear permanent home; new, inexperienced and often isolated trusts needing to upskill themselves to run a school for the first time; instability in principal appointments and senior leadership teams.”
Chris Keats, general secretary of the teachers’ union, the NASUWT, said: “Parents and the public in general will be appalled. I have long said that Michael Gove is the secretary of state for free schools and academies, not a minister for education. This is what the government is focused on – and now it has been put in writing.”
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said he was dismayed by the document and called for Gove to focus on “what really matters”. He added: “This is more evidence that Michael Gove’s exclusive focus is on a free school project for around 2% of pupils. We now know that because of the huge political embarrassment caused by damning Ofsted judgments of his flagship free schools, he is signalling that he wants even more resources dedicated to trying to save him further embarrassment.”
Just 38 free schools out of the 174 opened so far have been Ofsted rated. Six are outstanding, 21 good, eight require improvement and four have been found inadequate.
I’ve always said Gove is a zealot, and zealots are dangerous because they don’t listen. Now it appears he doesn’t only not listen, but he is actually trying to rig the system to avoid transparency. When I was at school that would have been called cheating, but then Maria Miller shows that there’s one rule for us, and a different rule for them.
