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Education and Inspections Bill

It all goes to show that one’s views of a lecture are always subjective; one’s innate prejudices affect one’s approach. I thought that the lecturers presented two arguments: the Edmonton argument, to which I referred, of complete independence for schools, and the argument that local school boards should have a lot of control in achieving collaboration. At the end of the day, however, there was no overwhelming evidence that changing structures changed very much. I think that that is what the lecturers said, but if I am wrong I apologise to the hon. Lady and to them, although I am sure that they will not mind if I misquote them—they are very unlikely to read these words in any case. In Committee and on Report, I have tried to set out my alternative structure for education. I realise that the Government will not pick up on it, but as my hon. Friends work out their education policy over the next 18 months, I hope that they might move towards a policy of all schools becoming independent charitable trusts, to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision that all state schools should be genuinely independent. We need not get bogged down by whether we are in favour of or against grammar schools; I am not interested in that. All I am interested in is that schools be allowed to hire and fire, select and deselect and run their budgets as they please. That does not mean that there will be a rush of new super-selective schools. Many people, not just the middle classes but people stuck in working-class ghettoes, favour diversity. To refer again to the US, where voucher schemes are being introduced in many states, it is often black parents in poor neighbourhoods who favour education credits and vouchers as a means of escaping from the ghetto. I realise that I have not yet persuaded my Front-Bench colleagues to adopt education credits but I live in hope that that day will come, because it is an obvious and inescapable way of breaking down the social apartheid in education. Why does this country alone among European countries have such a large private education sector? It does not exist in France, Germany, Italy or Spain, so does not that lead Labour Members to question the economic rationale? Private education is not illegal in France, Spain or Germany, so why do as many as 50 per cent. of parents in some of our boroughs feel that the only way to obtain a decent education for their kids is either to get a chit from the parish priest so that the child can go to a faith school or to pay for independent schools? Why do the conservatives sitting on the Labour Benches below the Gangway believe that so many parents want to opt out of state education or want to escape from community schools to faith schools? What is the reason? Education is failing in this country because we do not have sufficient trust and faith in the ability of head teachers to run schools as they want. All my amendments were tabled in the hope of achieving that. None of them will be accepted, but one day I believe that we shall win that crusade.