Lib Dems want less government control of schools

10.23.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 12th Jan 2008

A GCSE pass at grade G can be earned with just a 20%

The state should "back off" and allow charities, parents and private groups to run schools says Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. In his first major speech in charge, Mr Clegg suggested creating "Free Schools" under local government oversight, but not council controlled. These "new, liberal" schools would also be non-selective. The Lib Dems also say they would scrap the bottom two GCSE grades as they have "no value" in the labour market. Nick Clegg said "It is time to call a fail a fail and raise expectations by abolishing the lowest pass grades, G and F".

Mr Clegg, who says his ideas apply equally to the running of hospitals, wants local authorities to have responsibility for allocating money fairly and for ensuring equal access and good standards. After that, he wants government to step back and "allow the genius of grassroots innovation" to take over. Free Schools could be set up by a range of groups. They could be established by any suitable sponsor, including parents, educational charities, voluntary and private organisations with the right credentials. Mr Clegg insisted it is "wrong" for the government to dictate exactly how schools run their business. "Government should step away from daily management, and instead make sure that public services are held clearly to account through effective, independent systems of inspection," he said.

In the future, Mr Clegg wants to see minimum education standards monitored by a new Educational Standards Authority formed of Ofsted and exams watchdog, the QCA. He argues that there is nothing wrong with Gordon Brown's target of having no schools where less than 30% of pupils achieve five good GCSEs - except that it is too low and it should not be acceptable for the lowest grades, G and F, to count as GCSE passes.