FREE SCHOOLS

Free schools are all the rage at the moment in England. The Department for Education received 323 applications, and 24 will start the new academic year this month. Free schools are touted as a Swedish idea, but they also exist here in Denmark. What exactly are they?

Free in Denmark does not mean "without cost", but "without restrictions". Although they have to adhere to national curriculum standards, they do not have to adhere to other educational rules. They can, for instance, employ people as teachers who have not been to teacher training college. In general (and unusually in Denmark), they charge fees; but these fees are heavily subsidised by the state. There is no rule against their making a profit, but the profits are generally ploughed back into the school rather than being distributed to shareholders or similar.   

That is because of the two most common situations for establishing a free school. The first is in rural areas, where the school would otherwise have to close or merge because of a lack of pupils. A couple of free schools have sprung up in the local area where I live for exactly that reason. Small numbers are not a problem, since classes can be merged (eg a first, second and third year class are run together). What matters most to parents is the opportunity to send their children - particularly younger children - to a local school that they can walk or bicycle to. The second situation is in large inner city areas, where are there lots of immigrants. Here, the driving force appears to be a concern for parents that a large proportion of their children's classmates don't speak Danish properly.

In contrast, the prime motivation for free schools in England seems to be the ability to avoid local authority control, since funding will come direct from Central Government. LEA's have long been viewed by the Conservatives as the root of most of the problems with the state education sector; and free schools are seen as the thin end of a thickening wedge that will eventually break meddling LEA control for good.   

It is here that the wholesale importation of the Scandinavian model breaks down, in my view. Most people in Denmark are perfectly happy sending their child to the local, kommune-controlled school. Only a minority, for whatever reason, are not, so free schools will never come to dominate. In England, on the other hand, many parents are not happy with state education. Expensive independent schools are a solution for families with means, but are not open to the majority. Free schools will increase the proportion of pupils who are not subject to LEA control, but will not do anything for those who are. Making the system better for the large majority will never be easy in a country which is highly centralised and gives very few powers to local authorities. Free schools will not change this, however much the Government says otherwise.    

Walter Blotscher