Gove under fire for academies 'failure'

Official figures from the Department for Education published on Wednesday show that only 32 schools have completed the process to open as academies this month.

A further 142 schools are expected to convert over the year out of more than 2,000 that have expressed an interest in becoming an academy.

Although latest figures from 2009 reveal that the number of academy schools has risen year on year from 2003 to 133, the 2,000 or so schools that have expressed interest in becoming academies still only represent a fraction of the 24,685 schools across England.

A spokesman for the Anti-Academy Alliance said: "This is hardly the 'overwhelming' response Education Secretary Michael Gove bragged about. He is reported to be furious about how slowly the process is working."

Mr Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status after the Academies Bill was rushed through Parliament.

It is understood that the majority of the 32 schools opening as academies are classed as "outstanding," although Mr Gove is refusing to name them.

Teachers' union NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: "For a policy that was supposed to be a flagship change for education, it is something of a failure to have so few schools opening at this stage.

"It was a great mistake to rush through legislation enabling schools to change for the new term and the government is paying the price for their indecent haste."

She added that the large-scale rejection of academies was a clear message that the break-up of the state education system in England was not wanted.

Fellow education union NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates condemned the subterfuge and secrecy that the coalition government employed to press schools into becoming academies and welcomed the fact that only a handful of schools appear to be converting to academy status.

She said there were concerns that schools had not properly consulted with staff, parents and their local community over decisions to convert.

"But the killer blow is that there is no evidence to present that academy status is the key to raising standards," she added.