This Briefing argues why you should say no to ‘free schools:
- Because they take pupils and money from existing schools.
- Because they increase social segregation.
- Because they aren’t the answer to raising standards.
- Because they will be run by business for profit.
- Because they threaten pay, working conditions and union rights.
- Because they are not democratically accountable.
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Andrea Wilson said:
The bullet points above are easy to disprove and refute by the supporters of Free Schools. Poor effort.
10 November 2011 at 7:50pmJanet said:
Disprove them then.
10 November 2011 at 9:03pmJane said:
clearly the supporters of ‘free’ schools are going to refute the arguments – they have vested interests. That’s like the bankers saying they didn’t lend money unwisely before and had no part in the current financial problems. Unfortunately, simply saying “it isn’t true” just sounds like a child in the playground stamping their foot and saying “it’s not fair”. Janet is right – they need to provide evidence and not just one or two examples based in the US but a factual analysis of the whole Charter movement and the whole Swedish experience, anything else is just pie in the sky.
11 November 2011 at 12:16amrosemary fergusson said:
The positive side of free schools is that it removes the odious spawn of the free school supporters from being a negative influence in my child’s school environment.
11 November 2011 at 1:24pmAndrea Wilson said:
The bullet points are simply wrong and using these arguments plays into the hands of proposers.
Increasing social segregation is clearly nonsense as free scoops have to abide by same admissions as any other state school. In all free schools opened so far there is no evidence of any social segregation.
No Free Schools are run by profit making organisations – it’s against the law.
Funding is same as other state schools, remember the money follows the pupil.
how do you know they are not the answer to improving standards – only time will tell and real evidence.
Academies and free schools may well offer improved terms to teachers, it is the choice of a teacher to work where they want and agree the terms they are happy to work to.
Democracy in schools now – you are having a laugh aren’t you? Also quite hypocritical when you claim any governing body that converts to academy status is undemocratic…..
Sorry I have not the time to go into detail on these but most are simply wrong and make you look a bit silly.
11 November 2011 at 3:36pmPete jackson said:
Andrea
11 November 2011 at 3:58pmMaybe you should read the Briefing. You’ll find lots of evidence that shows the damage similar policies have caused in Sweden and America.
Andrea Wilson said:
I have and I can say that the key points, as made in above bullet points, are clearly wrong.
11 November 2011 at 4:25pmBlindly opposing all Free Schools is wrong as many are clearly needed and wanted (democracy?).
Janet said:
Your attempts to ‘disprove’ are somewhat insubstantial and incoherent.
11 November 2011 at 5:09pmandrea wilson said:
Apologies if its incoherant – I typed on train on my phone in 2 mins.
11 November 2011 at 5:41pmPoints are insubstantial because the claims made are simply incorrect.
Jane said:
Andrea: still no facts. True that time will tell but should we really be spending such a large proportion of the education budget on vote rigging, vanity projects. Surely, since we have successful local authority schools it makes more sense to look at what makes those successful, rather than offer up a spurious “choice”.
11 November 2011 at 10:18pmAndrea Wilson said:
The facts are there as 24 Free Schools are open and many more approved. None are run by profit making organisations and non are increasing social segregation. Facts.
While there are many successful LA Schools there are too many that do not serve their pupils correctly. They have been given both time and money to improve over many years but continue to fail pupils. This is just one of the drivers for Free Schools and Academy conversion. To ignore this and blindly oppose parents wishes is wrong both democratically and morally.
Most people commenting on here are teachers and appear to be only concerned about themselves and their employment terms. Education should always focus on the pupils and their outcomes. Even NUT run polls have shown majority of parents are in favour of Free Schools and Academies.
12 November 2011 at 9:03amJanet said:
Could you post a link to these NUT run polls please?
And data on the populations sampled?
12 November 2011 at 9:39pmDavid Phillips said:
We should all read School Wars The Battle for Britain’s Education by Melissa Benn a compelling read which as a deputy head I can validate, it explains clearly for those disbelievers why free schools are an abhorrent idea and socially divisive.
22 January 2012 at 12:43pm