Return of education's 'Cold War'

Analysis
By Mike Baker

Oh dear! The education "Cold War" seems to have returned.

The walls are going up again, each side is digging in, and the mud slinging has resumed.

This week, the new head of the Independent Schools Council, Chris Parry, a former Royal Navy officer, fired a missile across the bows of the state school sector.

Mind you, he claimed it was a defensive measure.

Giving evidence to the Commons schools select committee, Mr Parry said he found it "offensive" that he had been unable to find satisfactory schooling in the "poor" state sector.

He went on to criticise those people who were "baying" for the independent sector to do more in order to meet the public benefit test under charity law.

Charity Commission guidance was a missile aimed from the maintained sector into the independent sector Chris Parry Independent Schools Council

The choice of language suggested that the independent sector feels under attack.

Indeed, Mr Parry described the recent draft guidance from the Charity Commission as "a missile aimed from the maintained sector into the independent sector".

He also used the phrases "Cold War" and "sectarian divide" to describe relations between state and independent schools.

So what is going on? Recent years appeared to have seen a thawing of relations between the two sectors.

When Labour came to power in 1997, it made it clear that it had no plans to abolish independent education.

Indeed, it has done much to promote partnership, and sharing of facilities, between the two sectors.

'Trojan horse'

Government policies have encouraged a blurring of the divide. A few independent schools have crossed over to become state-funded city academies.

A larger group have become voluntary-aided foundation schools.

A further batch of well-know independent schools is sponsoring city academies.

Perhaps some in the independent sector see these developments as a Trojan horse - not so much a sign of friendship but as secretive plan to attack from within?

Yet, there is little evidence that the independent sector is being undermined.

The 2008 Independent Schools Council census showed that pupil numbers are rising.

Indeed the rise was the biggest since 2003 and even encompassed the boarding school sector.

And this was achieved despite an average fee increase of 6.2%.

'Public benefit test'

Independent schools have not lost any of their market share under a Labour government - indeed they have expanded.

In 1998 independent schools accounted for 6.7% of pupils in England. In 2007, it was just over 7%.

The independent sector continues to afford smaller classes than the state sector and still punches above its weight in terms of access to the most selective universities.

So, why is it so defensive? There are perhaps two reasons.

First, there is anxiety about the new guidance on the requirement for independent schools to pass the "public benefit" test if they are to preserve their tax breaks as charities.

The definition of "public benefit" seems to divide the sector.

Some schools engage keenly in the broader education scene: sponsoring academies, sharing facilities, engaging with curriculum and assessment change, sharing innovative thinking and practice.

'Own ethos'

Others seem to think that simply offering scholarships to very bright pupils is more than enough, overlooking the fact that this is not entirely altruistic as it helps with league table position and reputation.

They do not really look beyond their walls and they resent the suggestion that they should be forced to do so.

As one of the most impressive private school head teachers, Dr Anthony Seldon has put it, the independent sector carries on "in splendid isolation, detached from the mainstream national education system".

The second reason may arise from awareness that ever-higher fees are hitting many independent sector parents very hard indeed.

Moreover there may be a fear that, if the economy does go into recession, these fees will become unsustainable for some parents.

But if parts of the independent sector are defensive, the government has even more reason to be so.

An underlying aim of the post-1997 government was to make state schools so good that fewer parents would wish to choose fee-charging schools.

State schools cannot admit only the motivated, or the affluent, or the bright

This was an essential part of the drive to give state schools more independence and more opportunities to develop their own ethos, through specialist or foundation status.

Yet the statistics above suggest nothing much has changed over the past decade: if anything, independent schools have become more popular.

Of course, the state sector has had to deal with problems that barely impinge on independent schools: the rise in pupils without English as a first language, the widening income gap, and the increasing mobility of the population as a result of EU-wide movement are just a few examples.

Facing these difficulties, largely unknown in the independent sector, you could understand why the state sector might feel defensive.

Which is perhaps why, when Mr Parry sailed in with all guns blazing, the Labour chair of the Commons schools committee took umbrage.

Most independent schools do a good job. Some are exceptional.

But they have huge advantages that are denied to most state schools, which quite rightly have to accept pupils of all types, abilities and family backgrounds.

State schools cannot admit only the motivated, or the affluent, or the bright. They cannot set their own income levels.

As Professor Francis Green, from Kent University, told the select committee the evidence is clear - the academic success of the independent schools is mainly down to the simple fact they have superior resources.

Which is why the state sector doesn't take kindly to representatives of the independent sector telling them their provision is "poor" to the point of being "offensive".

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