Education and Skills Committee Inquiry into the Proposals in the White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools For All

12 September 2005

Response from the Independent Schools Council

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) represents 500,000 children in 1,272 independent schools.   ISC exists to promote choice, diversity and excellence in education; the development of talent at all levels of ability; and the widening of opportunity for children from all backgrounds to achieve their potential.

ISC cautiously welcomes many of the ideas contained in ‘Higher Standards, Better Schools for All' and is pleased that the government has acknowledged that there is a role for the independent sector in the new educational vision. However, the proposed changes fall short of ensuring real choice for parents, and the partnership possibilities offered by Trust Schools may falter because of administrative burdens.

Parental choice

A prime concern for ISC is to increase social mobility. Nearly a third of children in ISC schools receive help with fees, and a large number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds are helped each year to achieve their potential.

ISC schools offer a demonstrably excellent standard of education, and we are keen for this excellence to be shared. Although there are many partnership schemes, and although there is active discussion of further ways in which partnership can be widened and deepened, the maximum benefit to some children from disadvantaged backgrounds is full-time education at an ISC school.

The majority of these children will live within six miles of an independent school. If the Government is serious about offering real parental choice it will need to include the excellent educational provision from independent schools as one option for these children. That would provide a kick-start to increasing social mobility, which must be a prime aim for society.

Though there might be a gap between the amount the state spends and the fees at an independent school, we in the independent sector are ready to help by means of bursaries so that many more children, especially those in the greatest need of a good start in life, derive the same benefits as the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary did at our schools.   

An ICM poll earlier this month shows a large majority in favour of parents being allowed to spend the cost of their child's education at any school they choose, including independent schools. The level of support is highest among the younger age groups who are most likely to have children: 56% of 25-34 year olds thought it was a good idea, against 13% who though it was a bad idea.

The questions are therefore as follows:

  • Is there wide public support for parents to be able to spend the cost of their children's education at a school of their choice, including independent schools?
  • Are ISC schools willing and able to educate children from disadvantaged backgrounds?
  • Will education for these children in an ISC school increase social mobility?
  • Can this be achieved without additional cost to the exchequer?
  • Should the Government support this extension of parental choice?

The answer to the first four questions is "yes" in each case, and the answer to the fifth question inevitably follows. We call on the Government to offer real parental choice by enabling children from disadvantaged backgrounds to be educated in the independent sector.

Partnership

Trust schools give the possibility of expertise being more widely shared across educational sectors. They are therefore an interesting prospect for charities, including schools, which have expertise in the independent sector. Co-operation with the maintained sector is part of the social purpose of ISC schools.

The danger with the current proposals is that they may be, or be perceived to be, administratively cumbersome. As currently set out, the administrative "hoops" for charities to jump through are considerable. Educational innovators may balk at the restrictions on the ability to innovate, at the lack of control over funding or admissions, at the undefined status of parents' councils, and at the need to gain approval for any departure from the national curriculum. "Independence" may be perceived as illusory. If that is the case, schools are likely to prefer more low-key exercises in partnership

Independent school

The term "independent school" is internationally recognised as a school independent of state control. The right to choose to educate children independently of the state is a Human Right. It is therefore confusing for the Government to refer to "independent state schools".

The Prime Minister himself has acknowledged that independent schools exemplify principles and practice that can be of wider value.  However, if the government truly wishes to embrace the independent sector's ethos, not just its name, it must develop, in full consultation with the sector, a real idea of how the independent sector achieves its success. 

The future

ISC is acutely conscious that this is the 12th Education White Paper since the present government came to power in 1997. We believe that the time is now right to establish a cross party mechanism for determining education policy for the future.

There is significant common ground between the educational aspirations of the government and those of other parties. This is common ground on which together, involving both sectors and all parties, we should now build. Education policy, which by its nature has the potential to affect generations of children, should not be driven by short term imperatives or the will of individual governments in isolation. We should be drawing upon the wisdom of all political perspectives, as well as those who understand the educational process from within, in setting out plans for the long term future. 

There is already a precedent for this approach in other areas of policy making.  Education should now be accorded the same importance.