Tories fear 'education apartheid'
	Tuesday, 28 November 2006:State schools must be able to offer the same exams as the private sector to halt a divide between the two, the shadow education secretary is to say. David Willetts will tell a conference on education policy that a "new and worrying divide is opening up". He will say that independent schools increasingly turn to exams such as the IGCSE and new Pre-U, which England's state schools are not funded to offer. The government said international group the OECD had praised the exams system. Qualifications watchdog the QCA last week concluded that the IGCSE was "not suitable" for assessing what pupils in England learn. 'Bigger gulf' But Mr Willetts will tell the conference at Wellington College, Berkshire, that the government is "sitting on its hands while we are moving towards a bigger gulf between state and private schools than we have had for a generation." He will add: "Gordon Brown may want to match the funding of public schools, but he still keeps denying state school pupils the right to study the subjects and to sit the exams that they value." He will describe as "deeply disappointing" that the government voted down the Conservative amendment to the education bill giving pupils the right to study individual sciences. "The only way to reverse this drift to educational apartheid is by a clear principle that exams that are good enough for students in independent schools are good enough for students in maintained schools as well." 'Rising standards' A Department for Education spokesman said the international organisation the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) education director had concluded that no examination system was so tightly or carefully managed. Outlining other features of the Conservative's education thinking, Mr Willetts will confirm a break from what was until recently its policy of giving schools greater autonomy from local authorities. "It is simply not the case that every school wants to run its own affairs," he will say. "In fact, many schools don't want to worry about the minutiae of employment contracts or how to repair crumbling buildings. "The professionals in our schools are best at teaching and they should be allowed to focus on that." Academies Conservative policy focuses on standards, he will tell delegates - and the party would not support a return to 11-plus exams. "We need to provide better education for the many, not just the few," he will say. Other speakers at the conference include Schools Minister Lord Adonis who will talk about the future of academies - and how and why they should be sponsored. It comes as conference host Wellington College announces that it is in preliminary discussions about sponsoring a new government-funded academy offering both boarding and day places. The proposal is for a twin-site academy in east Wiltshire - replacing Castledown School in Tidworth and Avon Valley College in Durrington. The two would come under one executive head teacher and one board of governors.