We have made sure all who hold schools accountable are aware of this too, and we will continue to do so.
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His comments came just hours before Nicky Morgan was grilled by MPs on the academies plan outlined in education white paper “Educational excellence everywhere”.
The government says it wants all schools to be able to enjoy academy freedoms.
PLANS to force all schools in the county to become academies have been criticised.
Ms Morgan responded sharply to a question from Simon Kidwell, the headteacher of Hartford Manor Primary School in Cheshire, after she gave a speech at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) in Birmingham, according to the Press Association.
The education secretary apologised for the accidental publication of the key stage 1 Sats spelling paper on a government website, revealed last week, as she addressed the conference.
Committee chairman Neil Carmichael thanked Ms Morgan for answering 21 questions plus follow-ups during her two-and-a-half-hour appearance before MPs, to which she joked: “It’s a bit like Mastermind, isn’t it”.
She can likely expect a less hostile reception from the more moderate NAHT, though objections to the plans show little sign of abating.
She joked: “We haven’t had the pitchforks yet, but perhaps I should look outside the committee room when I leave”.
When asked about Mr Cameron’s mention of the plans being announced in the Queen’s Speech, Mrs Morgan said she did not want to speculate.
And Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said she could not see how the question could be classed as sexist. “That is the Government’s position”.
She denied academisation was being “inflicted” on schools, although the move will be compulsory if voted through Parliament.
The Daily Mail reported that the education secretary was discussing a range of possible concessions to appease up to 40 Tory MPs that are believed to be against the plan.
“That’s very significant because I think many people assume that there will be tens of thousands of schools failing at the moment and what we know is that it won’t be that”.
“We don’t only have assessment, we also have an enormous number of mistakes, delays and confusions around testing at the primary level as well and to be frank I think that’s making people more angry than academies at this point in time”. Academy trusts in the United Kingdom, for example, are now under fire from charity groups arguing that they can not demonstrate a substantive track record of success in improving local institutions and therefore should not be allowed to take on more schools.
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“A Government that talks about professional autonomy and delegating the control to the front line really needs to listen to that”, he said.
