By Jason Farrell, Political Correspondent
David Cameron says he wants to create 500 more free schools in the next parliament.
At a speech in London, the Prime Minister said the programme had been a great success, amid criticism from teachers' unions and the Labour Party.
Mr Cameron also announced the approval of 49 new free schools, as a report by the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange concluded the innovation is driving up standards at primary and secondary level.
Free schools have been the big education experiment of this Government so it is little surprise that, with an election coming, the Conservatives conclude it has been a huge success.
More than 400 have been approved under the scheme, which allows parents and teachers to set up their own schools, since 2010 creating more than 230,000 places.
One institution expecting approval will be based at a "boxing boot camp" in Hackney which will use daily training sessions in the ring to help children deal with their anger.
Mr Cameron said: "If you vote Conservative, you will see the continuation of the free schools programme at the rate you've seen in the last three years.
"That means, over the next parliament, we hope to open at least 500 new free schools resulting in 270,000 new school places."
According to Policy Exchange nearly three quarters (72%) of all open or approved mainstream free schools are in areas with a projected lack of places in the future.
But critics say some schools are being set up in areas where there is no need for them, that they are unaccountable and the initial findings do not warrant expanding the programme.
Henry Stewart from the Local Schools Network said: "It you look at the data for both primaries and secondary schools free schools don't have any effect on the other schools in the area, but what they have done is they've used up a huge amount of resource.
"Some £1.7bn is the capital spend on free schools to date and the National Audit Office found that 52% of free school places are in areas that don't need new places."
Education Minister Nicky Morgan insists 90% of the free schools approved were in areas where there were not enough school spaces.
She said: "At the heart of all this is about helping parents have a real choice."
The Policy Exchange report finds free schools are not dominated by the middle class and are eight times more likely to be located in the most deprived areas of England than the most affluent.
Jonathan Simons, head of education at Policy Exchange, said: "Policymakers should make decisions based on evidence and the evidence clearly shows that free schools drive up standards of nearby schools in the local community, particularly the ones which are lower performing.
"Restricting new free schools solely to areas of basic need will deprive pupils - especially in some of the poorest performing schools - from achieving better results."
Tristram Hunt MP, Labour's shadow education secretary, said: "Instead of focusing on the desperate need for more primary school places across the country and on spreading innovation right across the school system, David Cameron's government has spent at least £241m on free schools in areas that already have enough school places."
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