Independent schools fear that David Cameron’s plans to allow parents and charities to open state-funded academies will take business from them as they struggle to cope with the impact of the recession. Struggling prep schools and small low-fee primary schools are believed to be most at risk of losing out to competition from the type of “free schools” envisaged by the Conservatives.
Some people in the independent sector admit privately that the sector could shrink significantly if there was a sustained improvement in the standards and choice of state schools. Of most concern is the level of capital funding that would be offered to parents or groups setting up free schools. Many independent schools pride themselves on superior facilities.
The advisory board of the Independent Schools Council, which represents 1,280 schools, discussed the potential impact of the Tory plans last week but decided on a “wait and see” approach until more details emerge.
The Conservatives say that parents dissatisfied with their local state schools or unable to secure a place at a popular school could start their own using the £5,000-per-pupil funding allocated to state schools, with an unspecified premium for children from poorer families.
Michael Gove, the party’s education spokesman, has pledged extra capital funding for new schools in deprived areas, with money diverted from the Government’s £2.2 billion-a-year programme to rebuild or refurbish all 3,500 secondary schools in England and Wales.
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Philanthropists and other sponsors are being encouraged to consider endowing the new schools. However, David Lyscom, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, cast doubt on how many free schools would be set up, saying that for parents in particular founding one would be a huge commitment.
“We would want to see whether there are sufficient numbers who are prepared to go through the effort needed to set up and a school by themselves,” he said.
“It is probably going to be a very complex and time-heavy task,” he said.
He suggested that commercially run independent school chains offering “no-frills” teaching with less emphasis on facilities would be most exposed to competition from free schools.
Chris Woodhead, chairman of Cognita, which operates 45 independent schools in England and Wales, said: “I think Michael Gove needs to spell out precisely what he plans. As yet he has not done that.
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“In principle we are in favour of the Conservative initiative. We think that the more the supply side is freed up and the more competition increases in and amongst schools, the more likely it is that standards in education will rise.”
The Conservatives have said that ownership of free schools must be on a not-for-profit basis, although they could pay companies to provide educational services. Mr Woodhead, the former chief inspector of Ofsted, said: “If they were to say the for-profit sector could be involved, Cognita would be interested in doing that, depending on the detail.”
Anders Hultin, chief executive of GEMS UK, which runs 11 British schools, said: “I think this is more of a business opportunity. If a lot of new schools are supposed to be set up by parents and other stakeholders they will need support from organisations with expertise and knowledge about how to manage and run a school.”
Free schools could be set up under existing legislation, pending a Tory overhaul of education law, with Mr Gove keen to see the first in 2011. In private talks with civil servants, he told them he wanted to bypass Whitehall practice of testing a policy in a limited “pilot” in favour of a “big bang” approach to maximise numbers.
A Tory source said: “The private sector is right to be worried. If what we are talking about works it will affect them — not Eton, but some of those towards the bottom end.”
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Mr Gove has also rebuffed repeated lobbying from independent schools to restore the assisted places scheme scrapped by Tony Blair, under which the Government funded private school places for bright children from poor families.