from Sunday Times, April 11th 2010
The shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, has indicated that the Conservatives’ plans to introduce parent-run ‘free schools’ may provide an opportunity for private education groups to become involved on a for-profit basis. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Gove confirmed “I do see a role for the private sector”. It is likely that this may result in leaders of free-schools subcontracting core services to for-profit groups.
While the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, has labelled the notion as an “idea that would unpick the entire basis of state school education in this country over the last sixty years or more”, the move may be welcomed by current providers of independent education.
While the majority of large independent schools have charitable status – and are therefore not permitted to run for profit, there is a significant number of commercial operators in the independent schools market, including hundreds of individual ‘proprietorial’ schools and larger education chains such as Cognita, GEMS and Alpha Plus. These groups are likely to be swift to capitalise on any opportunity to incorporate market-share amongst free schools into their education strategy.
Precisely how this would be undertaken is still unclear at this stage, but it is likely that private groups would be in a position to sign management contracts to undertake the day-to-day running of parent-owned schools. Bringing economies of scale and greater efficiencies into free schools would allow these for-profit entities to generate a surplus and subsequent profit margin. The Sunday Times notes that a key contender at this stage is Kunskapsskolan, who currently run a network of schools in Sweden and five UK academies, and have an aim to run 30 free schools, but only on a for-profit basis.
Whether charitable independent schools would also move towards free-schools in order to generate a surplus is also a pertinent question. At the moment, there are a number of academies linked to charitable schools (such as the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire), and the opportunities for charities to become involved in free-schools may be very attractive – either as a source of ancillary income or as a means of reducing costs through scale. What would be crucial is an effective and appropriate strategy for co-operation: schools would need to ensure that all aspects from catchment area analysis through to school marketing were soundly planned in order to ensure optimum uptake and the best outcomes.
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