Should state-funded schools be able to be run for profit?

YES
Lucy Lee, head of education, Policy Exchange

A recent Policy Exchange report argued that the rollout of a series of “social enterprise schools”, which could be owned and run by teachers, would provide a progressive step forward.

Private providers already manage school facilities as well as pupil referral units and special education needs provision. We think that the introduction of social businesses into schools provision could add additional capacity to create more good new school places.


NO
Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Schools should be run for the benefit of pupils, not for profit. Running schools for profit diverts resources from pupils, and that is not ethical.

Regrettably, education is now a fast-growing global business. The company running England’s first privatised free school has already been taken over by a $16bn private equity firm from Boston in the US.

But there is another big issue. Who should “own” our schools? ATL believes schools, and those who run them, should be accountable to their local community. Schools should never be beholden to shareholders who may strip the assets – land, buildings – when it suits them.


YES
Natalie Evans, director, the New Schools Network

We shouldn’t be afraid of allowing schools to make a profit. There’s plenty of evidence from Sweden that private companies can deliver high-quality education and we already educate many of our most vulnerable young people in independent special schools, which are run by private companies, but have pupil places funded by local authorities.

Involving the private sector would also be an effective way of getting more school places provided more quickly, which some parts of the country desperately need. But if the profit motive was introduced, the government would need to design a rigorous framework that ensured that public money is used fairly and that encouraged schools to be opened for pupils that need them most.


NO
Russell Hobby, general secretary, National Association of Head Teachers

Every penny of school funding should go towards improving the educational experience of our young people. We must learn from other sectors, where too often the drive for profit has resulted in corners being cut and mistakes being made.

If there are genuine efficiencies that can be made within the system or within individual schools, money should be reinvested elsewhere. There will always be children who can benefit from more support or better resources, from free school breakfasts to educational trips or one-to-one support.

It is shameful to suggest that money should be taken away from children and given to private firms or wealthy individuals.