Two major champions of the free school movement have voiced concern that the policy has lost momentum and become less innovative.

Unity Howard, director of the New Schools Network, and the charity’s founder Rachel Wolf both raised concerns about the direction of the programme during a panel discussion at the Conservative Party conference today.

Both speakers at the “Fight for Free Schools” panel hailed what they saw as the success of the free school programme but also raised concerns about its current direction.

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Ms Howard said free schools were the strongest-performing type of school nationally at key stages 1, 4 and 5.

She also highlighted success stories such as Michaela Community School in London, half of whose students achieved all 9-7 grades in their first GCSEs, and Harmonize Academy, an alternative provision free school in Liverpool, where 80 per cent of students got five GCSEs compared with a sector average of 12 per cent.

Ms Wolf said free schools had been a surprising success given the number of public policy initiatives that do not get off the ground. She said it had introduced a large number of successful new schools who did things differently.

However, both also highlighted several concerns about the programme.

1.  Free schools have lost political support and momentum

Ms Howard said that there has been a “lessening in political support” for free schools over recent years.

She told the panel meeting that free schools had been less of a political priority for the past couple of education secretaries.

The New Schools Network director said that this meant that the number of free schools being approved has been dropping.

She said that the incoming governments in both 2015 and 2017 committed to opening 500 free schools over the course of the Parliament but that the programme was now down to 30 mainstream free schools opening a year.

2. Free schools have a branding problem

Ms Howard also told the audience that free schools have a branding problem.

She said: “Like it or not, by many in the sector they are seen solely as a right-wing project.

“Too much of the narrative is focused on free schools competing with other schools instead of collaborating with them and the belief is that they promote a particular type of pedagogy alienating those who don’t subscribe to the traditionalist model of education.

“I would argue most of these things are untrue but this is a perception issue for lots of people in the sector.”

This was echoed by Julie McCullouch, the director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, who highlighted problems and asked whether the name “free school” should be dropped from the programme because it can attract political opposition.

Ms Howard added: “If we are talking about fighting for the future of the policy then what we need to see is free schools as a vehicle for social justice.”

3. Free schools are disproportionately in London and the South East

Ms Wolf said that the free school movement had been too focused on London and the South East.

She said: “This is a manifestation of a greater public policy challenge. There is no question that it has been much more concentrated in London and the South East than I would have liked.” 

She told the panel that there needed to be ”far more effort” into spreading free schools into other parts of the country.

She said she had spoken to parents in Yorkshire who were faced with sending their children to a school rated as “inadequate” who had an “impotent rage and fear” about the situation because there was nothing they could do.

Ms Wolf said that one of the reasons for setting up the free school programme was to give parents who did not have access to a “good” school a new choice. She said that, on this measure, free schools had been “a partial success but that there was much more to do”.

4. MATs have reduced free-school innovation

Ms Howard warned that there has been “mission creep” in the programme with a move towards established multi-academy trusts opening new free schools.

She highlighted how in the most recent wave, all 22 approved free schools had come from multi-academy trusts. Ms Howard said this had moved the programme away from the original vision of allowing new providers to develop something innovative.

She said that the department had now become too “risk averse” and the pendulum had swung too far in favour of approving bids from established providers.

Emily Duncan, chief operating officer of the Centre for Policy Studies, suggested there should be a specific free school application process for innovative bids.