from The Telegraph, 19th October 2009
Broadsheet coverage of the launch of the New Schools Network (NSN) charity, founded by a former adviser to Michael Gove, the Conservative party’s Shadow Children’s Secretary, which allegedly ”aims to build support so that new schools can open quickly if the Tories win power”. The development resonates with mtmconsulting’s recent indication that “Conservative policies will create threats to (conventional) independent education”.
The new schools that the article refers to would be independently run with a high degree of freedom, although differ from today’s fee-paying independent schools in the sense that they would be publicly funded. Gove’s vision for the Conservative education policy, should they gain power at the next general election, anticipated in 2010, is for a state funded independent education sector. This has been seen to work effectively in Sweden, with a crucial difference that in the UK these schools would not be permitted to be run for profit.
The founder of the NSN, Rachel Wolf, is a former adviser on Conservative education policy. The charity’s trustees and advisers are also listed as including the Reverend Tim Hastie-Smith, former head of Dean Close School, and Sir Bruce Liddington, former Schools Commissioner for England.
The network would aim to help groups of parents in setting up new, independently managed schools, likely to offer a less prescriptive style of education for pupils. The Telegraph article cites a 37 year-old mother of one, “who along with friends wants to create a primary school with a similar ethos to some private schools but without high fees for parents.” The mother, Emily Philips, is quoted as saying, “we wanted to create a school that was free and therefore open to pupils of all backgrounds whereas the current system widens the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.”
While the establishment of these schools seems to be a welcome repositioning of the UK schools strategy, some concerns have been voiced relating to the business strategy, educational management and the marketing of these schools.
In addition, mtmconsulting noted in our recent Independent Education Sector Report 2010 that Conservative education policy would almost certainly “do nothing to benefit (existing) independent schools directly… if the grammar schools are a guide then there could be a reduction of about a third in pupil numbers over a period of 20-30 years”.
If the arrival of these Swedish-style independent free schools really is as prominent as anticipated by the Conservatives and Michael Gove (the stated aspiration is for around 3,000 new schools), then existing fee-paying schools may have to focus their school business strategies and schools marketing messages on differentiating themselves further, implementing a clear and rigorous schedule for cost-controlling and ensuring that their school’s promotion is adequate to facilitate strong pupil recruitment over the coming years.
To view the article on The Telegraph website please click here.
For more details on mtm’s Independent Education Sector Report 2010 please click here.
To learn how mtmconsulting has helped schools marketing, college leaders and educational strategy teams all over the UK, and to see how our schools and colleges consulting services may help you, please contact us.
