Campaigns by parents to set up new schools in England: issues and barriers

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of parents in the planning and setting up of new secondary schools in the context of proposals to extend the right of parents in relation to new schools. The research focused on 15 parent campaigns that had recently taken place or were ongoing: seven aimed to obtain new schools and eight to prevent new schools being set up. Interviews were carried out with members of the campaigns, local authority officials, academy sponsors and a DfES official. Issues and barriers associated with the campaigns are explored. Amongst the most significant were access to information; lack of expertise; government policies and priorities; local authority priorities and attitudes; and lack of sites for new schools. The paper argues that whilst these barriers need to be addressed if parents are to have a greater role in relation to setting up new schools, tensions exist between government policies, creating difficulties for policies in this area to be effectively implemented.

Keywords:

• new schools
• parent campaigns
• academies
• faith schools

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on a research report written by the authors (Pennell and West 2007). We would like to thank all those who assisted with this research, in particular, the interviewees in campaigns, the Department for Education and Skills, local councils and academy sponsors. Thanks are also due to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and to the Research and Information on State Education Trust for funding this research.

Notes

1. The research was commissioned by the Research and Information on State Education Trust (RISE), with funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

2. They now include arts; business and enterprise; engineering; humanities; languages; mathematics and computing; music; science, sport; and technology.

3. Each of the campaigns appears to have represented a significant level of opinion amongst parents and others in the areas concerned; however, we do not claim that there were no alternative opinions expressed within these areas.

4. Following the Local Government Act 2000 the committee system of local authorities was replaced by a system based on a leader with a cabinet, or a system involving a directly elected mayor.