Schools invited to become academies

Schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted can be potentially fast-tracked through the process, with the possibility of reopening as an academy as early as September.

The ‘free schools policy’ would allow thousands of schools to be taken out of control from a local authority, and given to parents, teachers and other organisations.

State schools would then be paid for by the taxpayer giving them an independent status and enabling control of the school’s budget.

Mr Gove has urged teachers to ‘take this opportunity’ if they wanted less bureaucracy and wanted to get on with the job themselves.

The move, however, has been described by the NASUWT as a step in the wrong direction for educational inequality, potentially leading to social segregation.

There have also been fears for such a policy over the standard of examinations and grades greatly differing, making university candidates even more indistinctive.