Another nail in the coffin of the "bog standard comprehensive"?

This week saw another 79 secondary schools awarded specialist status, taking the total to 684.

With the re-elected government committed to creating 1,500 specialist schools, we can now expect a gold-rush of Californian proportions as head teachers go prospecting for the extra money and status on offer to all-comers.

But just how special are specialist schools? Are they genuinely different from all-round comprehensives or is this just re-badging, a clever marketing scheme to sell an old product under a new, flashier name?

Motivation

Two particular comments prompted this question. The first came from the head teacher of a successful specialist school in the Midlands.

Specialist schools are definitely the most interesting show in town

She said: "We're not interested in our specialism." Nor was she motivated by the extra money or the freedom to select some pupils.

For her, the essence of specialism was innovation. Or, as she put it, the change had been "a breath of fresh air".

The other surprising insight into specialism came from research by Anne West and Philip Noden of the London School of Economics into the first 238 specialist schools in operation by September 1997.

This found that, although the amount of the timetable devoted to specialist subjects had increased, in the majority of schools the head teacher did not feel that the specialist area was the strongest in the school.

Origins

Specialist schools are definitely the most interesting show in town at present. They could change the landscape of England's secondary school system (increasingly, devolution and history means things are different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). But opinion remains very divided on their plus and minus points.

Parents like the prestige of the "college" tag

First, though, it is worth recalling how they came about.

The original move towards specialist schools came under Prime Minister Thatcher with the creation of City Technology Colleges. These were to be independent, inner-city schools paid for initially by industrialists and subsequently funded by the taxpayer.

The grandiose plans for a network of such schools floundered when it proved impossible to find enough wealthy philanthropists to find a million quid or more to create a new school. Only 15 opened, although these have been mostly successful.

So in 1993 the Conservatives tried a broader approach with the Technology Colleges Programme, which allowed state schools to specialise in technology, science and mathematics providing they could overcome the hurdle of raising �100,000 in business sponsorship.

The programme survived the change of government in 1997 and schools can now specialise in one of seven different curriculum themes.

The sponsorship hurdle has been lowered to �50,000 (although this is an insurmountable barrier to some) and, once achieved, this triggers government funding worth about �600,000 over four years.

Label

As well as extra money, the schools get a new name with the prestigious "college" label in it, and can select up to 10% of their pupils on the basis of special aptitude for the subject. In fact, only around one in 20 specialist colleges has taken up selection.

The most obvious is the risk that they will create a two-tier, or perhaps a multi-tier, school system

So, as a desperate interrogator might ask: "Apart from the extra money, the specialist status, the greater freedom, and the ability to select, what's so good about being a specialist school?"

The answer is perhaps that the whole process of setting and monitoring targets, establishing links with outside organisations, and competing in a bidding process is energising and helps schools to be clear about what they are doing and why.

Clearly for an individual school there are also competitive advantages of having specialist status. While they are still in a minority they stand out as something new and distinctive.

Many parents are, understandably, confused by the bewildering array of new school types and names. In such circumstances the name-plate "St Blogg's Specialist College" stands out as a form of kite-mark.

Downside

But what of the potential pitfalls of specialist schools?

The most obvious is the risk that they will create a two-tier, or perhaps a multi-tier, school system, with a distinct hierarchy in which specialist schools are near the top and all-round comprehensives are nearer the bottom.

The specialist school movement has the potential to transform our secondary schools

There is even a risk of a hierarchy within the ranks of specialist schools. Will specialist language colleges be seen as more academic, and prestigious, than, say, specialist sports colleges?

And what of parental choice? In an urban area, where several schools lie within travelling distance, there may be a genuine choice for parents.

But in a rural area, where only one school is available, is it right for that school to specialise in one subject area? What happens if your child has an aptitude for the arts but your local comprehensive has been transformed into a business and enterprise college?

The answer you get to this question is that specialist schools will still offer the full national curriculum and no child will lose out if their interest is different from the school's chosen specialism.

Decision time

But either the school is genuinely specialist or it is not. It seems the champions of specialist schools are trying to have it both ways.

If they really have a focus on languages or sports surely those departments will get the lion's share of the funding, equipment and teaching. The school will become a magnet for the keenest and best teachers in those subjects, while others will eventually drift towards schools which specialise in their areas.

And what of those specialisms which business is not so interested in sponsoring? Will we ever have any specialist humanities colleges. Will ICI or IBM be as keen to sponsor history lessons as business studies?

The specialist school movement has the potential to transform our secondary schools. But now that it has gone from a strategy for the few to a policy for the majority, ministers need to decide just how special they want specialist schools to be.