Commenting on the education proposals by Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove, Christine Blower General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers union said;

"It is quite unbelievable that despite all the evidence to the contrary, Michael Gove has made the core of his education policy a greater push on Academies.

"To cut Academies away from local authority support will lead to a serious fragmentation of the education system and leave schools without the vital support they need.

"The new Academies will be run with little or no accountability measures in place and will take away parents' rights to have any say in the way their children's schools are run. What parents want is the assurance that they can send their children to a good local school, but his proposals are not the way to achieve it.

"If Michael Gove is arguing that we need a fundamental review of school inspections and Ofsted, then I agree. However, what we can't have is a slimmed down and more punitive version of a model which has for nearly twenty years hindered innovation and driven many teachers from the profession".