Tories extend “choice” to education
Conservative proposals on education, due to be released later this morning, will have “choice” at the centre.
This follows on from last week’s launch of Conservative health policy, which promised that patients will be given greater choice in which hospital they attend.
Public services now seem set to be the key battleground in the general election campaign,
On education, Michael Howard is expected to say that the Conservatives would see teachers and parents given more choice.
As many as 60,000 more school places would be created, and teachers would be free to decide school policy.
The Conservative party will allow parents to pick which school their children attend, independent or state.
In what has been termed a “pupils’ passport” the money the taxpayer spends on education will follow the student to the school they attend, with parents having the option of paying the difference in cost to send their child to a private school.
Tories claim this system will allow good schools to expand more easily, and allow new ones to open. The plans will also aid the restructuring of failing schools the Conservatives say.
Existing catchments areas would be scrapped and schools would be able to determine their own admission policies.
It is not clear however what would happen to more problem children who are not desirable pupils.
The education strategy looks to have been built on similar lines to plans to give patients more choice on healthcare, in what is expected to be a key battleground in the upcoming general election.
Under the Tory education plans schools would also receive more freedom, including the final say on whether a student is expelled, and planning rules would be altered to facilitate expansion.
Labour has already responded by claiming the proposals equate to a privatisation agenda, and that they will result in the lowering of school standards.
Schools standards minister David Miliband commented: “The basic principle of Tory education policy is to cut money from state schools to subsidise private education.”
Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis said: “Parents only want the right to choose when their local school does not offer a high quality of education. This is what ministers have to get right before discussing choice.”
