The doors of independent schools are being closed to families who cannot afford their fees

Ian Beer, ISC chairman

Launching a consultation document on access - Oasis: Open access to schools in the independent sector - the organisation said any scheme would be available to children from a range of abilities.

Chairman of the ISC, Ian Beer, said independent schools themselves did not need financial help from the state.

"But, in spite of heroic fund-raising efforts in many schools, and in spite of the generosity of philanthropists like Peter Lampl and Peter Ogden, the doors of independent schools are being closed to families who cannot afford their fees.

"Only the state has the resources to help open them on a national scale," he said.

Click here for the ISC's guidelines

The assisted places scheme, which offered bursaries for bright pupils from low-income backgrounds to go to a private school, was abolished after Labour came to power in 1997.

The scheme was criticised for being too easily abused by middle-class parents with good accountants and for being accessible only to the academically gifted.

The ISC said the abolition of the scheme had led to the anomaly that "access to independent education is almost universally acknowledged to be a parental right, but is only open to those able to afford to pay fees".

And it was this anomaly it was hoping to disperse by extending access in other ways.

'Cream-skimming'

Professor Harry Brighouse, of University of London's Institute of Education, said the consultation was positive step, but only if it genuinely targeted the full ability range of low-income pupils, including special needs pupils.

They only want to teach high-calibre, low-problem low-income pupils - who will be inexpensive for them to teach

Professor Harry Brighouse

Professor Brighouse - who has previously accused the independent school sector of being a barrier to the achievement of equality of education - said: "I welcome the willingness of private schools to teach low-income children".

"But in my experience, they only want to teach high-calibre, low-problem low-income pupils - who will be inexpensive for them to teach - and will then deprive the state sector of children who are very important," he said.

Private schools wanted to keep control over their own admissions policy, the professor said, rather than giving that power to the government.

'No plans'

But "cream-skimming" must not be allowed if the scheme was to work, he said.

And a spokeswoman for the Department for Education said the government would not re-introduce the assisted places scheme and had no plans to create a replacement.

"We do not envisage spending public money on buying a large number of permanent places for mainstream pupils in independent schools, as the ISC paper proposes," she said.

"The government's first priority is to continue improving state schools and raising standards there.

"That is where taxpayers' money should mainly be invested."

General principles

Some of the principles, which the ISC believes should underlie the new scheme, are as follows:

• does not commit the government to greater expenditure per pupil than is available in mainstream state schools
• is available to pupils of a wide range of abilities
• is confined to those with genuine financial need and has safeguards to prevent abuse
• offers free places to those below an agreed level of income but requires contributions from those able to make them
• commands the support and involvement of a significant number of schools
• respects schools' independence, character, admissions and examinations policies
• is available at all normal admission ages, including junior and post-GCSE
• offers long term confidence to participating schools
• makes use of appropriate independent schools as acknowledged centres of excellence.

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