Every teacher at a state or independent school should have to swap with an opposite number in the other sector once every seven years, two leading heads said this week.
New teachers should also be required to spend their first three years in the state sector before being permitted to teach in an independent school, they recommend.
In a pamphlet for the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research, Antony Edkins of Falmer high, a comprehensive in Brighton, and Anthony Seldon of the independent Brighton College, urge a “forced marriage” to bridge the wide and growing divide between the two school sectors.
They want every private school to appoint a “partnership coordinator” and partnership treated as a mandatory activity by inspectors.
They accuse the Government of “half-hearted” commitment to building links between state and private schools, calling for funding for partnership schemes to rise from less than pound;1 million a year to pound;100m.
Mr Edkins and Dr Seldon are themselves involved in a state-funded partnership scheme with East Brighton College of Media Arts. They have found it valuable, but say a more wide-ranging partnership with more funds is vital.
