Adam Smith Institute

The former chief inspector of schools tells it like it is. Exams really are getting easier,more kids are leaving primary schools unable to read, and leaving secondary school without the skills needed to work or study. The quangos in charge of the exam system should be scrapped and the national curriculum torn up - leaving parents free to choose schools teaching different things in different ways. A must read - if you're one of the few that can.

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Public services must be changed, not just funded. This report outlines the new vision for the NHS and state education which would make them more innovative and consumer focussed. The key is to make the public services producers "free–standing, self–owned and independent". They would manage their own budgets and set their own policy and priorities. Parents choosing a school would direct the government funding for their child to the institution they selected. Doctors and patients by choosing a particular hospital for a course of treatment would direct state funds to that institution. State schools, universities and hospitals would be driven by the demands of their customers. The public services would have to improve quality and efficiency.

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While Labour and Conservative parties talk about the value of parental choice in education, other countries are actively encouraging it. "All state schools could become independant." say's the reports author, former Fabian society research chief Stephen Pollard. Examples are given where the public funding private provision model is successsfully being used. In America the charter schools, which have been set up by local parents recieve tax funding, are non selective and are exempt from much of the regulation on state schools. New Zealand has copied the charter school model replacing the old district bureaucracies with new boards of trustees for each school and abolished zoning. 82% of New Zealanders now claim to be satisfied with their children's education. 97% of low income families are satisfied. Equality and educational standards would both rise if the government stopped running schools and paid others to do it instead.

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