Clause 86 - development work and experiments
Education Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Ivan Lewis (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Education and Skills; Bury South, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman rightly draws attention to a specific category of school: the Steiner schools. The Government support a pilot initiative for three Steiner schools to show that we are willing to consider and examine such an arrangement in certain circumstances. We will examine how the scheme works
within constraints that have been laid out and an agreement between the Steiner schools and the Government.
The Government would be reluctant to open the floodgates in the manner suggested by the amendment without the operation of the usual channels. The key to the school organisation committee is the support of the local community. There must be a demonstrable groundswell of support among parents, the family of schools and the community to show that admitting a new school into the maintained sector would be positive, would add value to the school, would give options to parents, and would make the school an asset and a legitimate part of the family of schools.
Our main worry about the amendment is that it does not put such a safeguard in place. It would apply a blanket view of the matter to all schools that are outside the maintained sector. The Government have been willing to enter discussions with Steiner schools. Most members of the Committee would agree that Steiner schools have something to offer and that many parents choose the Steiner model. We have been willing to support the scheme on a limited, pilot, three-school basis. The schools will come into the maintained sector in the manner suggested by the amendment. However, the Government could not support a situation that allowed that basis to be applied as the norm. There is a long way to go before we would be comfortable or happy to accept that.
We have had an interesting and useful debate but, on the basis that I outlined, I ask for the amendment to be withdrawn.