153 more new "Free" Schools

If 500 more free schools are set up, where will the teachers come from? Will the sponsors of these schools also sponsor training programmes or will the qualified teaching workforce be further diluted by the recruitment of unqualified staff? I fear the latter.

I find it quite funny. I wonder if they will open up another Durham free school, as the present one is being closed at Easter as it's had its funding withdrawn.
It was a Church of England school which taught creationism.
I think they were allowed, soontobe, because the government wanted to take power and money away from local authorities.

Personally I don't approve of free schools. They are just a way of circumventing local authority input and avoidance of standards that are applicable to local authority schools. At the same time, I believe that government is placing unrealistic targets on most junior and senior schools. What is the point of teaching to a test and not a standard. This produces children unable to think for themselves. Some university professors have noted a decline in students that think for themselves and lacking in original ideas (heard on BBC radio 4).
As for school food and hospital food for that matter, there should be minimum standards applied to all institutions. A well-balanced diet is essential for health. I thought this lesson was learned in WW2 when food was in short supply but the population was relatively healthy.

Eleothan, I agree with you. Why is it that the powers that be think laissez faire is a good plan?

My gut reaction is that I dont like free schools. I have no experience whatsoever of them though.
I should imagine that they are good if well run, but open to so many potential problems.
I dont know why they were allowed. To save money?

We ,in our family have had a very,very unhappy experience of a free school.I am not going into details as it is very personal but a GC has had a traumatic time due to an autocratic HT. S/he was far from being the only one but we have heard that the school is failing and is closing less than 3 years since opening.