With the autumn term now well under way thousands of pupils are settling down to a new experience of learning – in Free Schools.

With greater freedom than their local authority counterparts they can determine choice over a range of areas such as the length of the school day, the curriculum and how they spend their money.

As the first 24 opened their doors the government was still defending the initiative, insisting that the schools are central to the drive to raise school standards across the country.

Raising educational standards

Michael Gove says that international evidence shows that giving teachers and heads the kind of increased freedom they will have in Free School classrooms helps to raise standards of education.

He cites Charter schools in New York, which are similar to Free Schools, that have been shown dramatically to close the gap separating inner-city neighbourhood students from those of the wealthiest suburbs – by 86 per cent in maths and 66 per cent in English.

Similarly, Charter schools in Chicago close the achievement gap between disadvantaged inner-city public school students and middle-income students in suburban districts by half. This is despite the fact that these students entered the Charter Schools achieving lower scores on average than their public school peers.

Focus on eliminating effects of deprivation

The government says the schools are opening because of demand from parents for more schools, smaller classes or alternative forms of education. Of the schools opened so far in England 12 are located in the most deprived 30 per cent of communities in the country. Currently, 15 are in areas where there is basic need for school places.

The Coalition Government recently announced radical plans to change the school Admissions Code to allow Free Schools and Academies to prioritise the most disadvantaged children (those eligible for Free School Meals) in their school admissions. With children eligible for Free School Meals attracting additional funding through the Coalition’s Pupil Premium – worth £430 per pupil this year – there will be even more incentive for these schools to attract those pupils most in need of the high-quality education they will offer.

“These schools offer smaller class sizes, tougher discipline, longer days and higher standards,” said Mr Gove. “They give parents more choice. And they force existing schools to raise their game.”

People behind the Free Schools

It is expected that the first Free Schools will create more than 9,000 new state-funded school places. The list of schools on the government’s education website shows that 17 of those opened so far are primary schools, five are secondary schools and two are all-age schools. Six are faith schools.

Five are set up by teachers, eight are set up by parent or community groups, five are set up by existing education providers, and one by an Academy. Five existing schools will also become Free Schools.

Point of comment: We would like to hear comments from any tutors who may be part of an application for a Free School or working at one. What are your thoughts on topic?

  Employers are struggling to find sufficient numbers of graduates with skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, reveals a new CBI/EDI report.

Nearly half (45%) of the 694 employers who took part in Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills, predict demand for high level skills to grow as businesses move deeper into recovery and growth following the recession.

Meanwhile 30 per cent expect low level skill roles will decline in the next three years and 32 per cent expect to struggle to fill intermediate level jobs requiring skills equivalent to A level.

Desired skills in science, maths, technology and engineering

But 45 per cent of the businesses polled, representing 2.4 million employees, say they are already having difficulty recruiting staff with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Manufacturers and science-related businesses have the most difficulty finding highly-skilled people to fill their posts. Overall 59 per cent said they were concerned with finding STEM-skilled people in the next three years.

"As we move further into recovery and businesses plan for growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will intensify,” said Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General.

"In the future, people with qualifications in science and maths will be particularly sought after, and firms say it is already hard to find people with the right technical or engineering skills.

“The new government must make encouraging more young people to study science-related subjects a top priority. Businesses can help by showing that these skills lead to exciting and rewarding careers, helping to tackle the big challenges, such as climate change and energy security.”


Future tutoring opportunities

The survey is being published at a critical juncture in the economic and political cycle. Businesses are now planning for growth, and regard investment in skills as vital to improving productivity and performance.

Employers say they want to see the new government take action to prioritise action to improve these skills, but with government budgets under pressure, it likely that the demand will increase for publicly funded workforce training to deliver economically valuable skills.

STEM skills are not the highest priority for employers, however. While businesses are generally more satisfied with the employability of graduates significant problems still remain. Almost half (46%) are dissatisfied with graduates’ business and customer awareness, and a quarter are unhappy with graduates’ time management (26%) and problem solving skills (24%).

When it comes to A level subjects, employers said those that boost a young person’s job prospects are ones which improve business ability and knowledge of science and numeracy – namely, business studies (42%). After that they listed maths (21%), English (13%) and physics or chemistry (9%). The A levels employers rate least in terms of employability are psychology (3%) and sociology (1%).


Finally, the majority of employers want the government to ensure all young people leave school (70%) or university (81%) equipped with the employability skills they need to succeed in the workplace – such as the ability to communicate, work in a team, solve problems and apply basic knowledge learned at school, such as literacy, numeracy and IT, in a real world setting.