Continued...

The sports specialist colleges were also criticised when the Youth Sport Trust which works on their behalf arranged an £8 million sponsorship deal with Cadbury. At a time when the World Health Organisation was delivering a hard-hitting report criticising the amount of fats and sugars in chocolate bars this was poor timing. Elsewhere, there was criticism of a massive sponsorship deal agreed by Oracle, the international software company with the government and the Specialist Schools Trust. Forty specialist schools received around £100,000 in software, learning materials and training for teachers in a deal that was worth £4 million in total. Apart from the issue of whether the affluent specialist schools were the right beneficiaries for this investment, the pupils would also be learning about the Java technology used to develop websites which is, coincidentally, an Oracle invention.

In July 2003, the admissions adjudicator ruled that specialist schools selecting by aptitude must do so on the basis of aptitude tests rather than on any more general indication of ability. This followed a complaint by schools in Hertfordshire that the specialist sector was operating an unfair admissions policy. It should mean that the schools which operate selection will have to review their admission policies.

While recognising the achievements of the specialist schools and noting how the sector has grown, it is important to remember that there are around 30% of schools at the other end of the scale with only the most minimal chance of ever reaching specialist status. The 800 or so schools identified as facing challenging circumstances have to work under a quite different label.

To avoid creating an evident divide, the government has taken diversification to new limits. There are now city academies in deprived areas, pathfinder schools pioneering workforce remodelling and training schools working in initial teacher training. The government has also talked about the development of leading-edge schools which will pioneer curriculum reform. Along the way, the city technology colleges, action zones, the beacon schools and the grant-maintained sector have slipped from favour.

The political trick in all of this has been to make the playing field so rutted that any calls for it to be more level are simply pointless and, to be fair, it has been a useful ploy. The notion that all schools could be the same was always flawed because schools reflect their catchments. Owner occupation, high employment levels and blue-collar jobs have always been – and remain - significant drivers of school success.

It is frequently argued that diversification is justified because equality of opportunity is maintained within the new system but the truth is that the current plethora of school types makes it hard to determine what has happened to equality in schooling. However, from another perspective, it has to be said that changing status is popular with schools. Psychologically, it works by playing to schools’ strengths rather than, as the Fresh Start initiative did, by noting their weaknesses.

And, finally, there is one other benefit. When the next election comes there will be no arguments over the abolition of grammar schools and the suggestions that the state should fund the independent sector to provide specialist resources will seem emptier than ever. By 2006, when over 60% of secondary schools will be offering some sort of specialism, the only losers will be those schools in disadvantaged areas where sponsorship is a dream and where the only cutting edge is found in the canteen. And, oddly for this government, most of these schools will be situated in Labour strongholds.