Prime minister David Cameron has said ‘every school in the country’ should be moved out of council control and converted into an academy.
Reflecting on the first 100 days of Conservative power since May’s General Election, he wrote that such an approach to education would grant headteachers ‘the freedom to run their own schools’ while setting their own curriculum and pay levels.
Government efforts have already targeted the conversion of underperforming schools into academies, with hundreds of ‘coasting’ sites now facing enforced change under the Education and Adoption Bill.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Cameron said: ‘I want every school in the country to have the opportunity to become an academy and to benefit from the freedoms this brings.
‘So we will make it a priority to recruit more academy sponsors and support more great headteachers in coming together in academy chains.
‘In doing so, we can extend educational excellence and opportunity to every school and every child in our country.’
However Labour’s Cabinet Office shadow minister, Lucy Powell, said: ‘David Cameron made many promises during the election but he’ll be judged on actions, not words.
‘The last 100 days have revealed a Tory government which is failing to put working people first.’
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