New Schools: an Exploratory Study into the Effects of Non-Denomination-Based Planning

The State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science would like to introduce ‘non-denomination-based planning’ to make the founding of primary and secondary schools independent of faith or denomination. This proposal could be developed so as to result in more new schools. Whether that is desirable depends on the weighting of the potential effects. More new schools could increase innovation in and access to education, but it entails the risk of lowering quality in the short term and increasing the cost to the public purse. The effects of possible policy changes are not entirely predictable, so it is highly advisable to examine the effects of any new policy carefully once it has been introduced.

This is the main conclusion of an exploratory study of the effects of various ways of implementing non-denomination-based planning, carried out by SEO Economic Research in collaboration with Oberon and TIAS. The report below is a combined summary of two preliminary studies, which can be found here.