August 2010 - Evangelicals Now - Christian Newspaper

Following the General Election, Michael Gove, the coalition Education Secretary quickly set out his priorities for schools.

He confirmed plans for ‘free’ schools and more academies. ‘I believe, nothing is more important to the fairness of our society and the future prosperity of our country than getting education right.’ The coalition government shares an ongoing concern with the previous government that too many children leave primary school every year without meeting basic standards in English or Maths and too few 16-year-olds get five decent GCSEs. ‘So improving literacy, raising pupil’s attainment, extending parental choice, freeing teachers from bureaucracy, improving discipline and closing the widening gap between the richest and the poorest should be our shared goal.’ These are all reasonable aspirations, although begging the question as to the values underpinning the aspirations.

Media attention was overwhelmingly directed towards the ‘free’ schools and soon there was much debate, discussion and print. Assuming that enough of these schools will take off, how significant will they be in the bigger picture? Only time will answer that question. In the meantime, what are these ‘free’ schools?

It is envisaged that these schools will be set up by a wide range of proposers, including charities, universities, businesses, educational groups, teachers and groups of parents. The claim is that in response to parental demand, they will improve choice, and drive up standards for all young people, regardless of background. Free schools will provide an inclusive education to young people of all abilities, from all backgrounds, and will be clearly accountable for the outcomes they deliver.

Implications for Christians

What does this mean for Christian groups, whether parents, churches or other groups, who may be interested in this new opportunity? Well, to start with, be prepared for four stages of the bureaucratic trail.

Proposers must contact the New Schools Network, working on behalf of the Department, to discuss their ideas. Assuming progress is made, a form will need to be completed setting out the aims and objectives of the new school, the main people and organisations in the project, evidence of parental demand (e.g. a petition) and possible premises that have been considered. The Secretary of State will then make a judgment on the potential of the project.

Business case

If the answer is positive, proposers will make a fully detailed business case for the new school and set out their plan to open and operate the school. The Secretary of State will make an assessment, based on this final business case, on whether the project has met all the criteria to allow a new school to be set up and receive state funding. If yes, proposers will sign a funding agreement contract with the Department to trigger the release of potential start-up funding, and the school will need to set up financial arrangements, complete registrations, ensure all Criminal Records Bureau checks are done.

The administration requirements mean that new schools will not start in the immediate future, although it is (optimistically?) expected that the first Free Schools will open in September 2011.

Existing Christian schools?

What does it mean for the existing small Christian schools? It is now some 30 years since the first of the new Christian schools started in the UK. They have faced continued challenges, and, sadly, some have fallen by the wayside. Is this the opportunity that we have thought about and prayed for many times, that the principle of justice would allow Christian schools to be funded on equal terms with state schools? That, at last, Christian parents who would like their children educated from a Christian perspective would get the opportunity without having to pay twice — through the tax system and through fees? But will they want to? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages?

Who is responsible?

In the UK, with our roots deep in state schooling, the notion of Free Schools (the terminology itself is not helpful) is a problem. Maybe these new types of schools will, in time, open up discussion of the more significant issue behind the notion of choice: to whom do our children belong? The debate at this early stage has been heated, but after all the argument about buying privilege and whether it will or won’t improve standards, and the likely implications for the LEA management of education, I have heard absolutely nothing on this important question.

The biblical perspective is one of children as a gift to parents who are responsible for the nurture of their children. At some stage before they are five, more and more parents voluntarily hand their children over to carers and then from five years of age to teachers. We entrust our children to these adults for many hours a week. How many of us know what values are being shared, or being modelled by the carers and teachers. In most cases in secular Britain, the values being shared are far from Christian. Let’s be clear, education is not neutral. All decisions, important or seemingly unimportant, are arrived at out of the values of the government, an exam board, or individual teachers. This is why the debate is so heated about Free Schools. Do you believe that the state will run education best, or do you believe that parents should have much more of a say? But why do you believe what you do?

So an opportunity now exists for groups of Christian parents or organisations to consider setting up a school. As for the opportunity for existing Christian schools to ‘opt in’, the situation is less clear and needs to be resolved. If managing bodies of existing Christian schools decide to go down this route, and new Christian bodies take the opportunity, we need to be aware that the opportunity only exists as a result of a change of government and ideology. It could be reversed in the future. What would that mean for Christian schooling? We can’t answer that question now. We can only say that at this time the opportunity is there.

Ross Evans,
former head of Trinity Christian School, Stalybridge, Tameside

Faith schools' fillip?

Implications for Christians

Business case

Existing Christian schools?

Who is responsible?

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