MP Seeks Assurance from Academy Swedes

4.04.46pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 11th Aug 2008

Last week Vincent Cable, MP, met the UK head of Kunskapsskolan, Steve Bolingbroke, to discuss its plans for new academies at Hampton Community College and Whitton.

Vincent Cable said: "the response of parents to the academy proposal has been positive but I have been asked by some of them to obtain commitments on academic standards. Mr Bolingbroke was anxious to reassure me that in Sweden, where the Kunskapsskolan academies originated, their schools outperform the average both in levels of attainment and value added. It remains to be seen how easily the more sophisticated system of personal learning will be adopted in British schools but I was left in no doubt by the academy sponsors that there was a strong commitment to building on the positive progress within the schools and to high standards".