23 May 2011

Commenting on Michael Gove's plans to change the admissions code, making it easier for schools to expand, Christine Blower, General Sectary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said; "It is essential that there is a body which maintains an overview of school places to ensure the system does not descend into chaos.

"The current arrangements on school admissions ensure that local authorities have some oversight regarding school places, and if a local authority believes that the expansion of a school is appropriate then it will agree to it.

"I am afraid this looks like yet another policy designed more to undermine the role of the local authority than offer practical solutions to a shortage of school places, particularly in the primary sector."