Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tories ‘treating free school kids like guinea pigs’
A CABINET minister who thinks allowing some pupils to fail is fine has been condemned for treating children as “guinea pigs”.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss has admitted she believes experiments that go wrong at free schools are a price worth paying.
Former Education Minister Ms Truss said: “With freedom there does come risk. There are free schools that haven’t done as well, or there have been cases where pilots haven’t worked.
“I believe in trying those things and seeing what impact they can have, rather than being risk averse and not trying them.”
Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said: “Liz Truss seems to think it is OK to gamble with our children’s futures but our kids deserve better than being used as guinea pigs in a failed experiment.
“The Government bet the house on free schools and we’ve been left to pay. Children who lost their chance of an excellent education are not going to get comfort from the Tories saying it was a risk worth taking.” Dr Mary Bousted, joint chief of the National Education Union, said: “Liz Truss’s statement amounts to an admission the Government has put its pursuit of ideology above the interests of children’s education.
“This approach is both reckless and wasteful, and has resulted in real harm being done to communities where schools have had to close.”