Commenting on the Government announcement that they will review the free school programme, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said;
“The decision to review proposed free schools is welcome. It’s sensible to think afresh, given how wasteful and unnecessary a policy it has been. Free schools have the worse rates of teacher retention of any group of schools.
‘Having recognised the problem with free schools, it’s now time to be taking steps towards a more joined up system to manage and deliver school places where needed.
‘The Government has an opportunity to undo fourteen years of chaos in school management and planning. Local authorities need to be given the powers and funding to open new schools, as well as the ability to oversee admissions for all local schools.