On Monday (March 9), prime minister David Cameron announced the approval of 49 new free schools, bringing the total number approved during this Parliament to 408 – 255 of these are currently open.
The government says that the schools have created more than 230,000 school places so far and that more than two-thirds are rated good or outstanding.
However, opposition groups, including teaching unions, say that the policy has diverted funds into a small number of schools and has prevented local authorities from opening schools where they are most needed.
The government has allocated £1.7 billion of capital funding for free schools up to 2014/15, which unions point out is a third of the total £5.3 billion allocated for creating new school places in England as a whole.
The government has also faced criticism after the high-profile failure of the Durham Free School, which was closed after just 18 months.
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