Julia Hartley-Brewer meets Katharine Birbalsingh

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Julia’s guest is Katharine Birbalsingh, founder and headteacher of Michaela Community School, a free school in inner-city London. Katharine first hit the headlines when she spoke out about failing state schools at the Tory party conference in 2010.

She was forced out of her deputy head job by the “Education Blob”, leading her to set up her own “free school” in a deprived inner-city neighbourhood where pupils have achieved astonishing results against all the odds.

Katharine and Julia discuss why the Labour Party’s policy to abolish private schools may not improve standards for state school pupils, why teachers are failing pupils from poorer homes, and why 'old fashioned' discipline and teaching methods could be the best way to deliver a top-class education for every child.