A further embarrassment for Michael Gove – Ed Balls on Academy numbers published today  

Responding to news that just 32 new Tory-style Academies will open for the start of the new school term, shadow education secretary Ed Balls said: “This is a further embarrassment for Michael Gove. After claiming over 1000 schools had applied to become Academies and railroading his emergency legislation through Parliament, it now turns out only a tiny fraction of that number are opening for the start of the new term. It seems to me that the real reason for the rush was to avoid proper scrutiny for a deeply flawed piece of legislation. “Let's be clear that the only similarity between Labour's Academies policy and Michael Gove's is that they have the same name. Our Academies were part of a progressive education policy to give new ethos, leadership and investment to under-performing schools, often in disadvantaged areas, and I'm pleased to see a further 64 Labour...