Tony Blair is today set to outline plans for schools to opt out of local authority control amid suggestions that the scheme could reverse government policies.

In what the prime minister has billed as a "pivotal moment" in the government's education reforms, schools will be able to decide how they select pupils and what curriculum and teaching methods they use under the new plans.

Other opponents have suggested the move signals a return to grant maintained schools, which were introduced by the Conservatives and abolished by Labour, but Mr Blair insists it will enforce the government's efforts to give parents more choice.

"We want every school to be able to quickly and easily become a self-governing independent state school - an opportunity not just open to a small number of schools, but all who want it," the prime minister will say ahead of tomorrow's white paper on education.

Speaking yesterday, education secretary Ruth Kelly rejected suggestions the plans would foster elitism, but said the white paper would not shy away from highlighting the benefits of some elements of private school ethos.

"If you are talking about an ethos from a private school, which is good discipline, high standards and an expectation that every single child in that school is going to succeed, then it is something I want to see in our state system," she told the BBC.

"The important point about John [Prescott] and other members of the cabinet is there has been really good close working relationships throughout the build-up to this white paper," she said.

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