NAPCS is pleased to launch a guest blog series which will feature contributions by leading international education experts. The goal of this series is to expose our readers to the challenges and successes of establishing charter schools in different parts of the world.
The USA is not the only country where charter type reforms are taking place. CfBT Education Trust—the non-profit organisation that I work for—is heavily involved in similar reforms in England. For over ten years, the government in England has been encouraging the establishment of ‘academies,’ which are public schools, but they are not controlled by the local education authority. I say ‘England’ and not ‘the UK’ because there is a degree of federalism in the UK, which means that England, Scotland and Wales have different education policy. Tony Blair was a great fan of academies. He encouraged them particularly in high poverty urban areas where some public schools had a long history of failing to deliver acceptable outcomes.
By 2010 there were 200 academies, and they were beginning to deliver better outcomes as measured by the national tests that English students do at age 16. They were nearly all ‘secondary schools’ for students aged 11-18. While the academies were making a difference, they still represented a small fraction of the public school system in England which has over 20,000 public schools. (Of course, I am using the term ‘public school’ in the American sense; as you may know, we English quirkily use ‘public schools’ as the phrase to describe our elite private schools!)
Everything changed in 2010. There was a change of national government. The Labour Party lost power and the new government was dominated by the Conservative party. Conservative politicians were great fans of the charter school movement and the Swedish ‘free schools.’ Prime Minister David Cameron and his education secretary Michael Gove set about a massive expansion of the academies programme. Gove has visited the States many times to find out about how charters work. Shortly after the 2010 election, the leading UK newspaper The Guardian ran story headlined: ‘Can Gove’s American dream work here?’ Michael Gove is particularly enthusiastic about the KIPP schools, and he often describes their impact on life chances in his public speeches.
Michael Gove has encouraged a massive expansion of the academies. Two years on, the number has gone from 200 to 2000. He has also introduced a new category of academy known as a ‘free school.’ Most of the Blair academies were ‘new start’ versions of failed existing schools. The free schools are different; they are brand new schools set up in response to parental pressure for change at local level. The first 24 free schools were opened in September 2011. A further 52 free schools opened in September 2012.
There is huge controversy around these changes. The teaching unions are very unhappy about the academies and free schools. Some of the free schools have a religious affiliation and in the press there is some criticism of this religious dimension. There is also a big debate about whether or not ‘for profit’ companies should be allowed to operate free schools and academies. At the moment they cannot. Only non-profit organisations can get involved but this might change.
Image: Author Tony McAleavy, Education Director of CfBT Education Trust
Tony is CfBT’s Education Director, with corporate oversight of the educational impact of all our activities. Tony also has responsibility for corporate business development and advises the Trustees on CfBT's public domain research programme. He has played a major part in the development of our international consultancy practice, and he has worked extensively on our growing portfolio of education reform projects in the Middle East. Prior to joining CfBT, Tony held senior school and local authority posts in England. He has published extensively on the subject of school history teaching and has an MA in Modern History from St John’s College, University of Oxford.