Stephenson says rivalschools are watching the changes with interest and she expects others to begin offering similar course structures in the not-too-distant future.
When I asked Lyons, he reminded me that they can't very well condemn it: Harvard Business School sells its uniquely valuable case studies to rival business schools.
My cynicism tells me that rival SEC schools may have encouraged or been directly responsible for the leaking of this information to the media to maximize the embarassment factor.
But already, a trial in Scottish schools has found that a rival system for teaching children to read seems to produce better results than the government's.
It is likely that Mr Miliband's main rival will be Ed Balls, the former schools secretary, who was Mr Brown's right-hand man and enforcer during his ten years at the Treasury.