Whitehall abandons idea of private companies controlling school boards

A Whitehall proposal to give private companies taking over the management of state schools a controlling stake on their governing bodies has been shelved.

The idea provoked outcry from teachers and local education authority leaders when it was first mooted in a civil servants' briefing paper on the Government's White Paper on education. However, it will not be pursued in the White Paper, to be published tomorrow.

Graham Lane, the education chairman of the Local Government Association, had warned that the proposal was "a recipe for corruption". Company members controlling governing bodies could award contracts to firms they had an interest in, he added.

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, warned it would give private companies control of the hiring and firing of staff as well asmanagement of schools.

The Department for Education and Skills said the idea had not been "dropped" since it had never been included in a draft of the White Paper. Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, had decided it would not be pursued after the hostile reaction.

Headteachers' leaders welcomed the news yesterday. John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "The whole point of a governing body is that it has a balance of interests and these interests should quite clearly include parents and teachers and the head."

Ministers insist there has been no "rowing back" on plans to give the private sector a larger stake in the running of state schools. Tomorrow, companies will be given the go-ahead to take over failing schools and will also be encouraged to set up new schools such as the city academies in inner-city areas, which will be run independently of the state although partly financed by it.

* A £25m drive to give new teachers more time away from the classroom to improve their skills was unveiled yesterday.

The scheme, to be tried out in 12 pilot areas this year, will give teachers in their second and third years the chance to improve their skills at "masterclasses". The cash will pay for replacements to cover for them.