One of my earlier childhood memories is my dad taking our family to see the tree in Tolpuddle under which the synonymous Martyrs gathered in 1833.

My big sister was studying them for her O-level history - we happened to be on holiday nearby, and so my father (a teacher) figured that we could combine something educational with a day out.

The visit had a big impact on me. I remember worrying about what the journey to Australia would have been like, and how unfair it was that they were punished for doing something to improve their lives (supporting the Friendly Society of Agricultural Workers: an early trade union forerunner).

Aged 8, I was impressed at how a small group of people could end up having such a big impact for the better on the consciousness of a nation - 800,000 people signed a petition calling for their pardon.

Vehement opposition

It meant that, though I am most associated with right-of-centre politics, I’ve always had a respect for what the early workers’ movements in the UK campaigned for and achieved.

In my mind, free school groups follow in the footsteps of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and those of the Levellers, Chartists, the Workers’ Educational Association and countless others, in that they have overwhelmingly been driven by the same sense of community self-improvement and bottom-up change.

Given the huge role that they played historically in improving the lot of the most deprived in society, it has always puzzled me that trade unions have been so vehement in opposing the free school policy since it was introduced in 2010.

In their early days, the UK’s education unions were a genuine force for progressive change, helping push through reforms that benefited children

They have even gone so far as to fund the Anti Academies Alliance and, through that, campaigns against the parents and teachers who are the driving force behind most free school applications. When I ended up on the receiving end of one of these campaigns, I decided that enough was enough, cancelled my membership of the ATL teaching union and stopped being a school rep for it, too.

It didn’t have to be like this. In their early days, the UK’s education unions were a genuine force for progressive change, helping push through reforms that benefited children, in particular those from working class backgrounds. And more recently, in the US, the American Federation of Teachers has “strongly supported” charter schools from the off, seeing them “as a way to empower teachers, free them from overly bureaucratic regulations, and strengthen their voice in school and curriculum decision-making.”

I couldn’t agree more. Given how much effort the NUT, ATL, NASUWT and other teaching unions expend telling the government what should be happening in education, I’ve often wondered why they don’t just put aside their ideological concerns about academies and free schools and set up one of their own, if only to show us all what we’re getting wrong and how it should be done.

A new union?

With ATL and the NUT merging to form the National Education Union, and the recent recommitment by the government to even more free schools, it feels like the perfect time for these two big players in education to unite in the interests of the country’s children. With this in mind, I’d like to propose that the NEU gets into the arena, puts its money where its mouth is and submits an application to open a free school itself.

It could pick an area where it would make the greatest impact - somewhere in need of more school places, with high levels of deprivation and low educational standards.

I can’t think of a more exciting entrant to the sector than one of our teaching unions

Without irony, just imagine what a difference it could make, with all the expertise and wisdom the new union will contain.

I’m not just going to cheer or snipe from the sidelines, though. I’ve been through the bid process twice myself, so if they do this, I will happily help the NEU with its application.

The whole system, and the children it is meant to serve, will benefit from greater diversity in who runs schools, and I can’t think of a more exciting entrant to the sector than one of our teaching unions.

It would feel like a return to the roots of the workers’ movement - and would surely be something of which the Tolpuddle Martyrs and others would approve of wholeheartedly.

So, Mary and Kevin - what do you say?

Mark Lehain is founder and principal of Bedford Free School, and sits on the advisory councils of Parents and Teachers for Excellence, and the New Schools Network. He tweets @lehain