Free Schools and Academies

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)]

My Lords, this has been a most interesting and constructive debate. It has been a great pleasure to hear the reminiscences and advice of many people who truly are experts in the education world. Actually, I have just made a bit of a misnomer: this has not been a debate at all, because in a debate you have two sides putting forward two premises and, probably, disagreeing with one another. My heart goes out to the Minister, who has heard only one side of the debate today, but I wonder whether that is because there is really only one side to it and there is very little support for the Government’s position. I know the Minister will put forward the other side, and we will listen carefully, but we cannot help but notice that there is no enthusiasm on the Government Benches to criticise free schools and the freedom in education policy that has brought up standards over the last 30 years.

Over these last three decades, I have had the privilege of observing the variety of schools in the constituency that I had the honour to represent. I have watched schools ebb and flow. I have watched them become successful and watched them deplete, and I have come to the conclusion that there are three aspects that really matter in education policy. Schools need freedom, leadership and confidence, and each of those flows from the others.

I have watched particular schools that were failing— I will not name them because it would not be fair, but I could—become part of an academy trust. They therefore came under the direction of an inspirational educator— I can think of three particular head teachers who I put in that category—who was able to use their talents not for only one school but for a whole group of schools, and to allow one school to learn from another. That is what raised standards. It is not ideology that raises standards and gives all children equality of opportunity around this country; it is the practicality of putting them in a school that is free to organise itself in the best way that reflects the local community. A school that has leadership leads to inspiration in the teaching force and therefore in the children. That is what leads to confidence—confidence in the teachers, confidence of the teachers and confidence in the children, which allows them to go on to make great successes of their lives.

So I was very sad to see the publication of the new Government’s education policy. Why? Why would they take away that freedom? We saw this happen when the Blair Government came in in 1997. Schools were benefiting from the reforms brought in by the noble Lord, Lord Baker, in the 1988 education Act and, out of a misplaced ideological adherence to some form of making everyone the same, the then Labour Government abolished those schools. But they then realised their mistake and tried to bring them back again—which, to be fair, they did in later years.

Over these years, we have been used to saying that what we are trying to achieve is equality of opportunity but, sadly, what we see now is equality versus opportunity. You do not raise standards by making everyone the same; that only lowers standards. This Government, by adhering to an idea of equality, are aiming to take away opportunity. Our children need the freedom to prosper, to benefit from inspirational leadership, to build confidence and therefore to give every child in every community in this country the opportunity they all deserve.