Where is the evidence that you can raise the number of specialist schools and still maintain improvements on a large scale? These schools can select pupils and have significantly more resources - both more important than a change of name or ethos.

Having more schools simply jump on the bandwagon is ot the way forward.

Also, is anyone considering the whole child and range of experiences rather than simply judging success by exam passes? Child-centred education seems to have been lost at the expense of the specialists’ performance-led approach.

There is a big difference between education, education, education and performance, performance, performance. Can we at least have some debate?

David Spendlove Senior lecturer Liverpool John Moores University