Like other sensible people I’m encouraged by the Tories plans for education in England. The Swedish system of Free Schools has a lot to be said for it. Still, I wonder why the Tories have chosen Sweden as their role model rather than, say, the Netherlands or New Zealand both of which also have extensive school choice programmes. As you can see, both those countries score very well on the PISA* scale (generally seen, I think, as the best international comparison) and do markedly better than the UK.
Of course, Michael Gove’s writ runs out at the Tweed. Which is a shame, since education policy in Scotland remains wholly in hock to the EIS and the other teaching unions. We continue to delude ourselves that Tartan Education is better than anything on offer anywhere else in the world when the results quite obviously demonstrate that this is not true.
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