Headteachers’ union questions free schools over unqualified staff

The Department for Education announced that three-quarters of the first free schools to open in 2011 had been rated as either good or outstanding in their first inspections carried out this year.

Twenty-four of the new schools were started from scratch in 2011/12. All have now been inspected. Of these, four were rated outstanding, 14 were found to be good but five were judged to require improvement, and one was inadequate.

Two of those requiring improvement were from Yorkshire – The King’s Science Academy in Bradford and Batley Grammar School which was an existing school which had re-entered the state sector after more than 30 years as a private school.

The DfE said the overall results were an “encouraging start” to the Government’s free schools programme, and insisted those not judged as good or outstanding will be expected to take action to swiftly turn them around.

But Russell Hobby, the general secretary of NAHT (National Association of Head Teachers), said: “The success rate of free schools in inspection is almost identical to that of existing maintained schools.

“It just goes to prove that it is expertise, enthusiasm and dedication that go to making a great school, not any particular status or structure.

“It suggests that expertise is particularly vital when we dig into the data and see that in a quarter of cases Ofsted had concerns about the quality of teaching in the school or the curriculum being delivered.

“Should unproven providers really be offered the same freedoms - particularly the freedom to employ unqualified teachers - as those with a more established track record?”

In total, the country now has 81 free schools, with about 200 more expected to start opening next month.