State education is 'offensive to parents' who pay taxes, says public school leader

The low standard of state education is "offensive" to parents who pay taxes, a private schools leader declared yesterday.

Chris Parry, the newly-appointed chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said thousands of parents were forced to pay for private education because the quality of state schools was "very poor".

But he said ideological hatred of independent education ran deep and fee-paying parents were caught in a "Cold War".

Mr Parry, a former Royal Navy rear admiral, said the Government had aimed "missiles" at independent schools by threatening to strip them of charitable status.

He compared new laws which could force independent schools to raise their fees to "a flashpoint on the Berlin Wall".

The attack came as Mr Parry, who has led the ISC for just seven days, gave evidence to MPs on the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee.

Committee chairman Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, said Mr Parry's description of private education as "paid for" schooling was "offensive", saying parents of state school pupils pay through their taxes.

But Mr Parry replied: "I find it very offensive that I can't find provision in the maintained sector for my child.

"Where I come from the maintained sector is very poor and my wife and I have made sacrifices to send both our children to the independent sector.

"There are hundreds and thousands of families like mine who have chosen to make that commitment, both to their child's future and to the future of this country - and at significant expense."

He went on to accuse teacher training colleges of "bullying" trainee teachers to stop them applying for jobs in independent schools.

"There is a sectarian divide between the maintained and independent sector," he said.

But Mr Parry also called for peace talks in the education "Cold War".

He said: "During the Cold War you had misperceptions about what is going on on the other side. We need to talk more and find out what we have in common - which, after all, is children - and then go on to build bridges."

He admitted that independent schools could learn from the state sector, particularly when it came to handling unruly children.

"We can learn things about discipline," he said.

"It is a real myth that there are no discipline problems in the independent sector.

"Boys will be boys, girls will be girls. The 14-18 war always has to be fought between adults and children."