Why we should allow free schools where there are vacant places

Free schools opening where there are already vacant places, NUT says

So runs a Guardian headline that is obviously meant to shock us. But take of your Guardian Goggles and you will see this is a welcome development.

Back in 2006 I blogged about the way the Blair government's policies were thwarting efforts to open new non-denominational schools in Northern Ireland.

One of the points I made then is equally applicable today:

The policy of not allowing new school in areas where there is surplus capacity is ludicrous. Surplus capacity will tend to exist in areas where the schools are bad, because parents there are more likely to pay to send their children to independent schools or to make more effort to work the state system to get them into schools further away. 

As things stand, the government will allow new schools only in areas where parents are perfectly happy with the existing provision.