The Daily Mail:
Freeing schools from council control `raises academic attainment because it makes them compete?
16 May 2017
Freeing schools from council control raises academic attainment because it makes them compete, a study suggests. Researchers at the London School of Economics found that a mix of academies, free schools, faith schools and independently-run grammars can drive up standards. They said the schools vie with each other achieve better results and to attract pupils. ‘It’s the competition effect that appears to dominate here,’ said Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren, who led the study. ‘It appears to be that it’s the competition from these privately operated schools that raises achievement.’
Related publications
‘Smart but unhappy: Independent-school competition and the wellbeing-efficiency trade-off in education’, Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren, Economics of Education Review, Volume 62, February 2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775717301619