Clause 86 - development work and experiments
Education Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
The key point that emerges from the Minister's comments is that there is a sequence—first, apply to the maintained sector, and, then, apply for disapplication. I am sure that he will understand that the problem is that some schools would be able to serve pupils in the area better were they in the maintained sector, but do not wish to join the maintained sector if it means that they cannot keep their existing organisation and curriculum.
For the benefit of the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, I shall demonstrate that I am talking about neither Eton and Winchester nor other and better reputed public schools. Rudolph Steiner schools, for example, do not believe that they deliver education best by using technology at an early age. They also believe that the outcomes from their schools are considerably better than those from other maintained schools that deliver the national curriculum. I am sure that many of their proprietors would like the benefits of Rudolph Steiner education to be more widely enjoyed, but they do not wish to place one of their schools into the maintained sector in the sequential way that the Minister described. Even if the amendment were not accepted, it would be useful for the Minister to consider admitting a school to the maintained sector on the basis that derogation from the national curriculum would follow.