Tories Plan to Run State Schools For a Profit, says Labour

Tristram Hunt MP (Wikipedia)

by Schools Improvement Net: http://schoolsimprovement.net/tories-plan-to-run-state-schools-for-a-profit-says-labour/

The Independent is reporting that Labour will warn today that the Conservatives would allow state-funded schools to be run for profit if they retain power at next year’s election …

Tristram Hunt, the shadow Education Secretary, will claim that “privatisation” and applying “the profit motive” to schools “could easily  happen” if the Tories win another term.

In a speech to the Fabian Society, he will argue that allowing private firms to  run schools for profit would be a logical extension of  the Government’s academies and introduction of  free schools.

“Beyond 2015, whether it admits it or not, the Conservative Party intends to introduce the profit motive into English education,” he will say.

Mr Hunt will attack “the aggressively competitive,  fly-or-fail ethos that the Conservative Party aspires to bring to our school system”. He will add: “For all its administrative anarchy, the free-school programme is only the beginning.”

The Labour frontbencher will say that Sweden suffered a “catastrophic collapse in standards” after allowing for-profit schools, which had been “an unmitigated disaster”…

Some Tory ministers privately support allowing firms to run schools for profit. But Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has denied that there are any such plans, saying he does not ever expect to see tax-funded schools run for profit …

More at: Tories plan to run state schools for a profit, says Labour 

It’s easy to see why Labour might want to make this claim, but do you think there is a real intent by the Conservatives to do this? Please give us your thoughts and feedback in the comments or via Twitter …