Top private schools launch attack on Cameron’s ‘unrealistic’ reforms

Under attack: David Cameron faces criticism over his education plans
12 April 2012

David Cameron suffered a major blow today on the eve of the Conservative Party conference as Britain's most prestigious private schools condemned his flagship education reforms.

The Tories have promised independent schools, private companies and parents state funds to run thousands of "new academies" in a scheme based on the Swedish system.

But the "unrealistic" plan will fail to deliver higher standards of education, according to Andrew Grant, the new chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of elite fee-paying schools.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Grant said the Conservatives offered little more than a "less well funded" version of Labour's existing policies.

"I cannot think that the Swedish model that they are attracted to is going to be achievable on anything like the scale to transform secondary education in this country," he said. "It is not going to be the silver bullet."

Mr Grant, headmaster of St Albans School, was speaking ahead of next week's Tory conference in Manchester.

The criticism is especially damaging because it comes from the 140-year-old association representing many of the famous private schools which front-bench Tories themselves attended.

Mr Cameron went to Eton, shadow chancellor George Osborne attended St Paul's School in Barnes, while shadow education secretary Michael Gove was sent to Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen. All three schools are members of HMC.

Mr Grant said the Tories were "embarrassed" to endorse independent schools too strongly in public. He called on the party to be far more radical.

Parents should be given state funding "vouchers" which they could put towards the cost of independent school fees, he said. And schools should be free to charge fees, make a profit and select the brightest pupils.

"The big sticking point in the party's approach is that selection is ruled out and fees are ruled out," he said.

"We have talked to Michael Gove about this and he would be perfectly happy with an independent school currently in HMC becoming one of his new academies' provided it does not charge fees, and provided it ceases to be selective.

"Rather like Tony Blair in his introduction of academies, the DNA' they wish to borrow from our sector stops short of two of the key elements.

"I can't really see how Michael Gove's ideas are going to give us anything very different from (Labour's existing) academies, but rather less well funded." The next government should reinstate the assisted places scheme, paying for bright state pupils to attend top independent schools, he said.

While the Tories gather in Manchester, the heads of the HMC's 250 schools will hold their annual meeting in Liverpool but Mr Grant expects the Tories to keep their distance.

A Conservative spokesman said: "Our reform will empower parents to get what they want in the state sector — more rigorous teaching, smaller schools and smaller class sizes."

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