Leading headmaster calls for use of state funds to aid private education

Andy Falconer, chairman of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS), says it costs the Government around 6,000 to educate a primary age pupil in the state sector, and this money should be handed to parents to use it towards sending their child to whichever school they wish.

He is calling for the introduction of a "top-up" fee system, which would allow families to make extra contributions if they decide to educate their youngsters privately.

In a speech to the IAPS annual conference in London today, Mr Falconer will say: "It is now common practice to charge top-up fees at university and students expect to pay thousands of pounds for their undergraduate degrees.

"Why then, can we not use top-up fees further down the education ladder? Giving parents the choice of making an additional contribution to their 6,000 a year, they would be able to choose any type of school for their child.

"This would widen access to our sector, give the system the freedom to which our Government aspires and provide a great many more children with the opportunity to benefit from the finest education our country has to offer."

Mr Falconer questions the Government's decision to introduce "free schools" – schools run by teachers, parents and other groups using state funding but free from local authority control - when there are striking similarities to independent schools which are already up and running.

"One of the reasons I feel that there has been a slow take-up on the introduction of free schools is that once people really start to look at how much it takes to be truly independent, to have no back up or safety net from the LEA or the Government, then they start to glimpse the enormity of the challenge ahead. This challenge is one which we all embrace every day."

He adds: "Why exactly is our Government investing time and money in free schools when the concept of schools which are independent of Government control already exists? We already provide the excellence and breadth of education that parents crave. Surely widening access to our schools would do so much more than trying to reinvent the wheel?

"In our society we already accept the reality of private healthcare, with the NHS using private hospitals to deliver some of its services. Why then could a similar process not take place in the education system?"