COUNTY education chiefs have defended a decision to take nearly 100 secondary headteachers to America for a study tour and conference that will cost tens of thousands of pounds of public money.

More than 90 of Kent’s 106 secondary heads have accepted Kent County Council’s invitation to travel to four different States in October for a week-long visit.

The trip is costing every school that has agreed to go around £1,500 and will take place in term time. The headteachers will be accompanied by a 20-strong group of senior education officials and county councillors and will visit Seattle, New York, Boston and San Francisco.

The county council insists the costs of its party will be financed from money made by the education directorate.

The study tour will primarily involve headteachers visiting schools and end with a conference in Seattle hosted by Microsoft.

KCC says the trip will enable Kent heads to learn from the experience of schools that have developed advanced methods of “personalised learning” to boost classroom standards, often using state-of-the-art computer technology.

Teachers will visit so-called “charter schools” in the four different states. These are smaller secondary schools usually run by non-profit making sponsors who have much greater freedom over the curriculum.

In a statement, KCC said: “Personalised learning is key to our strategy for secondary education and so it will be invaluable for our headteachers to discuss the way Charter schools have responded to their situation and identify which elements could be modified and implemented in Kent schools.”

Asked why the trip was taking place during term-time when parents were being urged not to take their children out of school, KCC said it was important headteachers visited schools to “experience the different ways of motivating students to ensure they maximise their potential and thereby create a step change in the provision for Kent students.”

The education authority stressed schools had “structures in place to allow headteachers to be attend conferences and meetings.”

However, not all headteachers believe it is necessary. One, who asked not to be identified, said: “I do not feel it is right to be out of school for a week on a trip that will cost the school more than £1,000. It has not properly been explained to me why it is regarded as so important to go.”

Earlier this year, the Kent Messenger Group revealed how foreign travel trips by education officials and headteachers had cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds. Among them was a visit by 20 headteachers and education officials to Seattle that cost £30,000.