By Jason Farrell, Political Correspondent
David Cameron says he wants to create 500 more free schools in the next parliament.
The Prime Minister will suggest at a speech in London later today that the controversial programme has been a great success, amid criticism from teachers' unions and the Labour Party.
"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," he will say.
"That means, over the next parliament, we hope to open at least 500 new free schools resulting in 270,000 new school places."
Under the free schools scheme parents and teachers can set up and design their own schools.
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 will also announce the approval of 49 new free schools, as a report by the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange concludes 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 no surprise that, with an election coming, the Conservatives conclude it has been a huge success.
More than 400 have been approved since 2010 creating more than 230,000 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 the schools 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."
The Policy Exchange report also finds that 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."
But Tristram Hunt MP, Labour's shadow education secretary, said: "The Tory plan is failing young people and their parents, with a third of all free schools found to be under-performing.
"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.
"The result is many more children forced into crowded classrooms - a 200% increase in the number of infants taught in classes of more than 30."
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