Earlier this month, Francis Green and David Kynaston published Engines of Privilege, a book that aims to kick-start discussion about the injustices of private education in the United Kingdom, and what can be done about them. Six writers join the fray

Tony Little

Private schools are on the rise around the world. As governments struggle to fund the aspirations of families, or in some cases even cover the basics, private suppliers have entered the vacuum. In some city districts in Africa there are thousands of small, fee-charging schools – most of them pretty bad, which is what happens when markets are not effectively regulated.

In the United Kingdom, one of the most regulated school environments in the world, the quality of the private sector is generally very high, measuring near the top of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) global assessments and outpacing the state alternative by a distance. A long tradition of non-government, not-for-profit, regulated, liberal education is deeply embedded in British culture and we should cherish it.

We should cherish it because our country is well served by having independent voices that speak up for the education of our children, removed from the prevailing government orthodoxy. There is no monolithic private sector in the UK but a host of independent views about education. In more than 40 years in schools, I have come to realise that truly great education happens when we recognise that children learn more from each other than from adults, and learn more outside a classroom than in it…