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So-called 'Trust Schools' will manage their own assets under the new bill, and are seen as a shift to the right by many Labour backbenchers. John McConnell, a Labour MP said that "the Labour Party was not elected to govern in coalition with the Tories", and the suggestion that this bill represents a further move to the right is echoed by the National Union of Teachers, who suggest that it is "profoundly divisive and damaging" to both schools and their pupils' education. However, Alan Johnson, education secretary, is standing firm on his plans, claiming that the reforms are "true to the social values, economic goals and pragmatic approach that have bound progressives together for over a hundred years".
This move represents a further commodification of education that many in higher and further education are already feeling the consequences of. The management of schools as individual, competitive businesses allows for greater opportunity for the private sector to muscle in, and risks an atomised school populous and falling standards. More seriously, this may demonstrate a shift towards the eventual privatisation of education which parallels recent developments in the NHS. It is up to us all to ensure that the privatisation of education, and our children's future does not take place, and that conversely, a greater emphasis on mutual learning, cooperation and sensible management of education that can only be achieved by allowing teachers and pupils work free from the interference of right-wing managers and business experts.