Flagship free schools policy failing to deliver on promise of parent-led education, report finds

The government should review its flagship free schools policy after research suggested it has failed to fulfil its original purpose of providing parent-led schools, a new report says.

Only one in five free schools have been set up by parents – and increasingly these new schools are being opened and led by academy chains rather than parental groups, the analysis reveals.

Free schools take a disproportionately low number of disadvantaged pupils from their catchment areas, the study by charity Sutton Trust and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has found.

It is understood that poorer families may be less likely to apply for free schools – even if they are based in areas of disadvantage in the country – because of overly complex admissions procedures.

The free schools programme, which was originally launched in 2010, was supposed to give parents more choice by allowing them to set up their own schools in their local communities.

“In reality, the free schools programme has been a vehicle by which new schools are opened by academy chains, a trend which has increased in recent years,” the report says.

Overall, 178 free schools have been set up by academy trusts; over half (59 per cent) of all free schools, the analysis shows.

The report found that the number of schools set up by parents was at its height in the early years of the programme, with parents involved in the set up of over 40 per cent of the secondary free schools opened between 2011 and 2013.

Of the secondary schools established since 2015, this has dropped to less than 20 per cent, the study said.

For primary and all-through free schools, the proportion has dropped from 32 per cent to just four per cent.

The report calls on the government to review and clarify the mission of free schools – and it also calls on free schools to recruit more disadvantaged pupils to reflect the communities they serve.

Around 16 per cent of pupils in the catchment areas of primary free schools are eligible for free school meals, but only 13 per cent of pupils attending these schools are eligible.

And while 19 per cent of pupils in secondary free school catchment areas are eligible for free meals, only 17 per cent of those attending secondary free schools qualify, the study shows.

Another one of the aims of the programme, highlighted in the report, was to boost the number of schools that take an innovative approach to the curriculum or ethos – and yet just a third of free schools have demonstrated a “novel approach” to their work, the study finds.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, said: “Free schools were supposed to bring new and innovative providers into the education sector, to drive up standards and improve school choice. But as our research shows, very few are fulfilling that original purpose.”

He added that it was “unacceptable” that both primary and secondary free schools accept lower proportions of disadvantaged pupils than live in their catchment areas.

Sir Peter told The Independent: “It may be that disadvantaged families are less likely to apply, or that the admissions procedures of individual schools are overly complex.

“One thing is clear – free schools need to make serious efforts to recruit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds so that they reflect the communities they were set up to serve.

“This should mean more and better outreach to primary schools with high levels of disadvantaged pupils.”

Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said: “Free schools, when open, operate as their own admissions authority, so there will be many different admissions criteria for parents to navigate. This is needlessly confusing and does not make for a joined-up system that truly has children’s best interests at heart.”

He added: “The original purpose of the free school project was to offer the opportunity for different community groups to set up schools.

“In the beginning we saw this happening, but many of these schools have been absorbed into larger trusts and new free schools are now overwhelmingly set up by MATs (multi-academy trusts), so it would be wrong to claim that free schools are responsible for any additional diversity in the system.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “The notion of ‘increased parental choice’ which the free school programme claimed to offer was simply smoke and mirrors.”

Mark Lehain, interim director of New Schools Network, a charity supporting free schools, said: “The application process is tough, as you’d expect, and so it’s not surprising that so many groups of teachers and existing schools are stepping up to the plate to open new schools, often in response to wishes of local parents – it’s very positive that the profession itself is now embracing the policy, and free schools are still the best way for innovation to flourish and voices of the community to be heard.”

He added: “The latest application criteria explicitly targets areas of low attainment and high need, which should see even more children benefiting from free schools. We very much welcome this refocusing and look forward to working with groups who are targeting new schools in these areas.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “There are 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools in 2010 and the free schools programme has been a vital part of that improvement. They are driving up standards, introducing innovative practices, and giving parents more choice of a good school place, with 84 per cent of free schools inspected by Ofsted rated good or outstanding and 30 per cent rated as outstanding.

“Almost 400 free schools have opened since 2010 – creating over 212,000 places – and nearly half of those schools are in the most deprived areas of the country. We are now inviting applications for more free schools and will prioritise those proposals that want to set up in areas with the lowest educational performance and greatest need for more good school places.”