Would 'free schools' really empower parents?
Barely a week goes by without the Spectator magazine praising Michael Gove's plans for 'free schools'.
One of the reasons they like it is that it is one of the areas where they think the Tories have really come up with a more fully developed policy.
Gove says the idea draws heavily on the system in Sweden where - after an overhaul in the early 1990s - about 15% of schools are now run by private bodies funded by the public purse.
But while the impression may have been created that any group of parents with a decent business plan and an available building will be able to open a new school, the 'need' for that school will still have to be demonstrated to a high degree to Gove and his Whitehall team.
Those not insignificant factors, money and current school capacity, will remain.
So fast-forward to an imaginary London four years from now, and assume a Conservative government coming to the end of its first term.
Whether or not the free-school idea is deemed a success may depend on how you answer the following questions:
- Would you welcome a new secondary school being set up close to your child's secondary school?
- Would you welcome a private school close to your child's school changing its status and becoming a 'state' school?
- Would parents you know - with a child coming up to secondary school age - feel more or less anxious about the 'choice' now presented?
- If you yourself are a parent of a child at primary school, would you welcome an additional school?
The Conservatives say the test will be whether parents have become 'empowered'.
I'm BBC London's political editor and presenter of the London section of the Politics Show. Here I'll be identifying the key talking points during the election campaign and trying to offer a reality check to the many promises that you'll hear up to polling day. Your thoughts welcome.
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