- The freedom Academies and Free Schools have over the National Curriculum. While still being required to teach core subjects like English, maths and science, and offer a "broad and balanced curriculum", they have the space and flexibility around this to innovate and be creative.
- The freedom Academies and Free Schools have over where they buy their services, such as technology for their school and tailored extra support for their pupils.
- The freedom Academies and Free Schools have to change the length of their school terms -offering extra school time to help improve pupil performance.
Outlining a vision to allow all schools to innovate and raise standards, Stephen Twigg will say that in a "One Nation schools system head teachers in all schools will be trusted to lead their schools in the best way for their pupils". Labour say they will put an end to "Michael Gove's incoherent approach that grants some schools access to freedoms that help raise standards whilst denying them to others".
Stephen Twigg is expected to say: "Today I am setting out how Labour will bring order to the chaos Michael Gove has created in our schools system. We will put an end to the fragmented, divisive system under this Government and ensure that every school can excel and every child is given a great education. We know that giving schools more freedom over how they teach and how they run and organise their schools can help to raise standards. So why should we deny those freedoms to thousands of schools? All schools should have them - not just academies and Free Schools. A school should not have to change its structure just to gain freedoms. In a One Nation system, freedoms would be granted to all schools and innovation would be spread across the system."
Setting out the kind of freedoms all schools will enjoy under Labour so they can raise standards, he will go on to say: "So Labour will give all schools the same freedom over the curriculum that academies currently enjoy while continuing to insist that all schools teach a core curriculum including English, Maths and Science. Many academies say freedom to innovate in the curriculum has given their teachers a new sense of confidence and professionalism. All young people should benefit from the positive impact this brings - trusting teachers to get on with the job.
"And where a community school wants to offer longer school terms so it can offer extra classes to improve results, why should they have to jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops when academies can, working with parents, change their term dates to deliver better education? All schools should be able to do this so we will let them. And school leaders, not politicians, know best what kind of ICT or speech therapy services they need for their staff and pupils. So just as academies, can choose to buy in tailored support that better meets their needs, so should community schools."
Labour say that Stephen Twigg will also focus on Labour's plans to incentivise schools to work together for the benefit of every child. The evidence shows that extending school freedoms within a system of widespread collaboration is the key to raising education standards. So Labour rejects the idea of a Tory 'sink or swim' approach to school competition being the best way to improve performance.
Instead, Stephen Twigg is expected to say: "The evidence on school improvement, from home and abroad, demonstrates that partnerships and federations between schools are key to raising teaching standards, leadership skills, and sharing best practice. A lack of collaboration poses a risk for school standards. The lowest performing schools in the OECD have autonomy but no collaborative culture. We need more school freedoms and a collaborative culture to spread that innovation and best practice. Michael Gove used to talk the talk on schools working together but he's failed to deliver. He promised to ensure that new academies supported other schools, but nearly two-thirds of academies are not in a partnership."
