The latest Tory Education Policy leads me to wonder if the Tory Party has lost its marbles or it thinks the public have lost theirs. It seems that parents are to be offered ‘choice’ and this will raise educational standards. True to form, New Labour is jumping on the ‘choice’ bandwagon.

Surely choice can only exist when supply exceeds demand e.g. If there are two secondary schools in a town, the only way to guarantee choice is for both schools to be big enough to take all of the children in the town. The Tories argue that this is OK because the unpopular school will eventually close down. What is the cost of enlarging the popular school? What happens if the ‘unpopular school’ improves and becomes popular, do the builders move schools? Not content with this situation the Tories will allow independent providers to build schools where parents can spend their £5500 voucher. They quote the example of Holland. What they don’t say is that this policy may have increased the cost of education in Holland by 20%. In Hampshire that would amount to over £140 million!

Mr Howard would also take Secondary Education away from Local Education Authorities (LEAs). This is based on the idea that schools, between inspections, are ‘best left alone’. This idea, if applied to all schools, is both ignorant and irresponsible. I have seen evidence of the way schools have been helped to improve by support from LEA advisors and inspectors. It would not have happened if schools had been left alone.

Choice does not improve schools. Gimmicky different schools, Specialist or Academies don’t either. Curriculum suited to the aptitude of individual students does. Best practice, effective management and dedicated staffs in our best comprehensive schools deliver that. Isn’t it better to make all our schools good schools so that going to a local school is a guarantee of a good deal for local children? We should spend public money on smaller class sizes, better support for schools, better facilities in our existing schools, rather than vague silly plans to build schools which aren’t needed.