Guest post by Mohamed Sabur, educational consultant and former headteacher of Elthorne Park High School in Ealing.
The effect that free schools might have on the community concern many people, and rightly so. The first concern most people voice is that the playing field is simply not level.
There is little doubt about which groups are most likely to succeed: the professionally organised who understand and can negotiate the system. In contrast, the most disadvantaged students are unlikely to have parents who have the expertise needed to undertake the complex process of setting up a school. Networking, consulting, preparing a bid, setting up, running and sustaining a school is no mean feat.
Free Schools are supposed to meet the needs of the community, but the demand tends to be higher in areas which already have the best schools. Free schools in more disadvantaged areas are often not representative of their local communities.
The accountability structure means that free schools answer directly to central government and are not, in any way, answerable to the local authority. Yet responsibility for making provision for school places lies with the local authority, and the system for setting up free schools can make planning that much more difficult.
At present some academy chains have been successful in opening free schools. It remains to be seen how many free schools might be run by a chain in the future, something that could have significant implications.
Please note that these views are personal and do not reflect the opinions of Free School Talk in any way.
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