Regular Left Futures contributor Lucy Reese defended local authority-run education on Newsnight last night – and warned that Michael Gove’s free schools policy was paving the way for large corporations to “get their hands on education budgets”.
She appeared on the programme after a film was aired assessing the progress of free schools at the end of the autumn term. The panel also included a member of a group attempting to establish a free school in Oxford, a free school head and an academy head. Newsnight reported that all government ministers were “unavailable” to appear on the show.
She was appearing in her capacity as a school governor at her children’s primary school.
“My children go to schools in Camden, “ she opened. “A recent Ofsted report said that children who go to schools in Camden have the best chance in the whole of Britain. Our schools are controlled by the local authority and do a brilliant job.”
