My Guardian column this week explained why the current lack of transparency around Free Schools is unjustifiable. Several of the best US states have thoroughly transparent systems where the applications and school-granting process is publicly available and publicly consulted upon. Opponents … Read More
This is Figure 1 from the 2013 CREDO Study Executive Summary. Get used to seeing it. I suspect it will soon become a new classic reference in education debate. By matching every student in a Charter School with a similar student … Read More
Back in November I collected the vision, aims and ethos webpages of all the 2011 Free School cohort to analyse as part of my PhD. Most of them are unbelievably monotonous but I always enjoyed West London Free School's: After all: … Read More
New Zealand are bringing in US-inspired "Charter" and UK-inspired "Free" schools. For a conference earlier in the year I had to create a timeline of the events leading up to its introduction. It was ridiculously quick. 2012 August 2nd - First announcement … Read More
Wilson's Learning on the Job is the best book for learning about academisation as it has been realised in the US. Once a CEO of an academy chain, Wilson's book functions as a history of the Charter School movement in the … Read More
Last week I presented a poster at the Comparative & International Education Conference 2013 of some tentative findings from a discourse analysis of education policy implementation in England and New Zealand. The purpose of the analysis is to see what … Read More
The Coalition's education ministers seem convinced that academy-chains are "the next big thing". Money is available for academy sponsors to take over failing(ish) schools, and chains are an increasing player in upcoming 'Free Schools'. Theoretically, 'successful' chains will deliver the … Read More
*This post was originally at the LKMCo website and was published on 17th May 2011* Recently I’ve noticed a puzzle I can’t solve. As the writer of a booklet about Free Schools I’ve worked with several Free School applicants and I keep a … Read More