Guardian UK: Government to nationalise failing private schools

[marmar]

Government to nationalise failing private schools
• Failing private schools to be nationalised
• Five already in public ownership as teachers criticise 'bail-out' for independents

Polly Curtis, education editor
The Guardian, Saturday 31 January 2009


The government will nationalise recession-hit private schools by turning them into state-funded academies, ministers have confirmed.

Headteachers predict that some struggling fee-charging schools will seek to join the scheme to stave off closure, as more parents desert the private sector.

There are warnings, too, that thousands of pupils may seek places at already-stretched state schools this September if private schools fail.

The schools minister, Jim Knight, said the government would consider applications for academy status from fee-charging schools affected by the downturn in areas where there was demand for more school places.

Anthony Seldon, the headteacher of Wellington College, said becoming an academy would not be the "move of choice" for many private schools, but it could be their only option. Teachers' leaders said it amounted to a "bail-out" for failing private schools. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/31/private-schools-nationalised-academies