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Labour backs parent-led schools, shadow minister insists Labour backs parent-led schools, shadow minister insists
(about 11 hours later)
Labour is behind parents who want to set up schools and would not shut any existing free schools, the new shadow education secretary insists. Labour is "on the side" of parents who want to set up schools and would not shut most existing free schools, the new shadow education secretary insists.
Tristram Hunt told the Mail on Sunday he wanted to address the perception Labour was not on the side of parents. Tristram Hunt told the BBC Labour backed "enterprise and innovation" when it came to increasing school places.
He said a Labour government would push ahead with its own version of the principle - parent-led academies. A future Labour government would push ahead with what it calls parent-led academies in areas of educational need.
The government accuses Labour of saying it will end free schools and then promoting them under another name.The government accuses Labour of saying it will end free schools and then promoting them under another name.
Labour sources quoted by the Press Association news agency said Mr Hunt was continuing with plans for parent academies set out by his predecessor, Stephen Twigg, and the party's position on free schools had not changed.
Free schools, set up by parents and other groups and operating outside local authority control, have been established under a flagship policy pioneered by Education Secretary Michael Gove.Free schools, set up by parents and other groups and operating outside local authority control, have been established under a flagship policy pioneered by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
Labour's parent-led academies would also enable parent groups and other organisations to set up schools outside local authority control, but the party has previously indicated local authorities would have greater powers to intervene when there were concerns about standards. More than 170 have been opened across England since September 2011.
Mr Hunt said he wanted to put "rocket boosters" on getting behind parents and social entrepreneurs who wished to get involved in education. Labour has been accused of sending out mixed messages about the party's support for them, opposing their roll-out at a national level but backing individual schools locally.
'More innovation' 'Vanity project'
He told the Mail on Sunday: "What I am saying is if you want to do that when we are in government, we will be on your side. There has been this perception that we would not be, and I want people to be absolutely clear that we are. Mr Hunt, who took over from Stephen Twigg as the party's education spokesman last week, described free schools as a "vanity project for yummy mummies" in 2010 but has now said he regrets those comments.
"We are not going to go back to the old days of the local authority running all the schools - they will not be in charge. We will keep those free schools going. We aren't in the business of taking them down. He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that Labour's position on free schools had not changed and that while a future Labour government would not open new ones "along the Michael Gove model", the bulk of existing ones would be kept open.
"We have to clear up this question which has dogged Labour education policy since we entered opposition and since Michael Gove began his reforms, as to what we'd do. "We will keep the good free schools when we get into government."
"We just want to say 'you are setting up these schools, we are behind you'." Citing the case of the Al-Madinah free school in Derby - which is threatened with closure after it was found by Ofsted to have discriminated towards female staff, delivered a poor standard of education, and failed to ensure the safety of children - Mr Hunt said Labour would not allow schools to become an "ideological experiment".
Mr Hunt said he wanted to see more "innovation, creativity, community engagement" as displayed in the best free schools. "What is going on with the Al-Madinah school is a terrifying example of the mistakes of Michael Gove's education policy," he said, suggesting that there had been "no oversight" of how the school was being run.
He expressed regret at having at one time called free schools a "vanity project for yummy mummies". "400 kids have been sent home for the week. They have had no schooling because of an ideological experiment by Michael Gove and that cannot be right."
"I regret those comments because I think any parents, be they yummy mummies or faddy daddies, involved in the education of their children is great," he said. 'Properly qualified'
He said he would happily send his own three young children to a free school. New schools, he added, should only be opened in areas where there was a shortage of places, where "properly qualified" staff could be recruited and where institutions were financially accountable and transparent.
Television historian Mr Hunt replaced Mr Twigg in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet reshuffle earlier this week. Under Labour's plans, parent-led academies would also enable parent groups and other organisations to set up schools outside local authority control, although local authorities would have greater powers to intervene when there were concerns about standards.
"If you are a group of parents, social entrepreneurs and teachers interested in setting up a school in areas where you need new school places, then the Labour government will be on your side.
"We are in favour of enterprise and innovation."
More generally, Mr Hunt said there needed to be more focus on vocational education with support for further education colleges and apprenticeships in industry.
As a professional historian with a PHD from Cambridge, Mr Hunt said he would "take no lessons" from Mr Gove on the need for academic rigour and standards in education but suggested the government had become "obsessed" with tinkering with the curriculum and the examinations system.