Britain: The British government announced plans for sweeping reforms to secondary schools yesterday, promising more power for parents and a bigger role for faith groups and private companies.
The plans will also encourage schools to reform their admissions systems so they take a fair proportion of pupils with different abilities.
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly set out the reforms in a White Paper which she said was designed to make the system more "parent friendly".
Every school will get the chance to become a "trust school" with the same freedoms to appoint their governors, own their land and set their own admissions as city academies.
Trust schools will be backed by business charities, faith groups, universities and parents groups. These backers will help provide "a strong school ethos" and "an additional source of direction and focus".
A new schools commissioner will be appointed to set up these new trust schools.
New measures to make it easier for private schools to join the state sector, provided they operate fair admissions systems.
Ms Kelly said: "These reforms are the next essential step in changing forever the education system for the better.
"The White Paper will give head teachers the freedoms they need to take standards of attainment to an even higher level and will create a new system where improvements are embedded within school and where the drivers for success lie more than ever before in the hands of teachers and parents."
The White Paper proposed a range of measures to reform school admissions.
It acknowledged that wealthier middle-class parents were often able to buy their way into good secondary schools by moving house to more affluent areas.
The plans would provide more free transport for pupils from poorer areas to travel to good local schools.
The reforms would also make it easier for schools to introduce a system of admissions known as "banding". This means that schools offer a set number of places for pupils from the full range of ability bands to achieve "an all-ability intake".
Some schools and privately-sponsored city academies already operate banding, which involves pupils taking tests at the end of primary school.
But the government stressed this was not a return to "the divisive 11-plus" used to select pupils for grammar schools which only take the brightest pupils.
Ms Kelly said she thought the existing secondary school system had not been "friendly" enough to parents.
The White Paper proposes that all new trust schools will have to include parent councils, which will influence school decisions on issues such as uniform, discipline and school meals.
Parents will also receive "meaningful" reports during the year on their child's progress and they will have better complaints procedures and access to a new complaints service.
The government said local authorities will be forced to consider parents' desires and face action if they fail to do so.
The White Paper also proposes tighter deadlines for failing schools to improve or be closed.
Teachers will provide one-to-one catch-up classes in English and maths where many pupils are struggling, as well as more stretching lessons for gifted children.
The plans also aim to encourage more grouping and setting of children by ability for different subjects.