The education secretary, Michael Gove, has risked infuriating thousands of teachers and councillors by describing those opposed to academies as "ideologues happy with failure".
In his sharpest attack yet on those against academies – one of the coalition's flagship education reforms – Gove warned that he would plough on with the programme regardless of critics.
"Change is coming. And to those who want to get in the way, I have just two words: hands off," he said in a speech at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College, an academy in south-east London.
Gove said he was frustrated by some "obstructive" local authorities and areas, such as Haringey in north London, where he said he had been asked "not to challenge the leadership of the lowest performing schools".
"For years, hundreds of children have grown up effectively illiterate and innumerate [in Haringey]," he said. "In one of the most disadvantaged parts of our capital city, poor children have been deprived of the skills they need to succeed."
Gove, who is often described by his adversaries as an ideologue, entitled his speech: "Who are the ideologues now?".
"The new ideologues are the enemies of reform, the ones who put doctrine ahead of pupils' interests," he said. "Every step of the way, they have sought to discredit our policies, calling them divisive, destructive, ineffective, unpopular, unworkable – even 'a crime against humanity' … they are putting the ideology of central control ahead of the interests of children.
"They are more concerned with protecting old ways of working than helping the most disadvantaged children succeed in the future. Anyone who cares about social justice must want us to defeat these ideologues and liberate the next generation from a history of failure."
"It's time we called them what they are: ideologues … it's the bigoted backward bankrupt ideology of a leftwing establishment that perpetuates division and denies opportunity. And it's an ideology that's been proven wrong time and time again."
There are now 1,529 academies, compared with 200 in the last days of Labour. In an average week, the Department for Education processes 20 applications from schools wanting to convert to become academies, Gove said.
Academies, unlike other state schools, do not receive funds through their local authority but, instead, directly from central government. They have greater freedom over how they spend their funding and over which subjects they teach than other state schools. Gove admitted there was "more to be done" and said his officials had identified more than 200 primaries with the "worst records".
"We have identified 10 local authorities with unacceptably high numbers of underperforming primaries. We are working now to transform them into academies," he said.
Headteachers have argued that it is excellent teachers and leaders that make great schools, not structural change, such as independence from local authorities.
But Gove said there was evidence, "built on by successive governments, both Labour and Conservative" that turning a school into an academy enabled schools to improve. At one point in the speech he quoted Tony Blair's description, in the former prime minster's memoirs, of why academies are effective.
Haringey's deputy leader and cabinet member for children, Cllr Lorna Reith, said: "Of course we realise how important a good education is to our children, which is why we will not accept underperformance and are working with our schools to secure rapid improvement. The decision to convert to an academy is one that should be made by the school itself following proper consultation with parents, who need to be convinced it is the right solution not simply told it is."
Teaching unions expressed anger at the speech. Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said Gove's comments were an "insult to all the hardworking and dedicated teachers, school leaders, support staff and governors in our schools.
"The forced academy programme is about bullying schools into academy status against the wishes of school communities and their local authorities who are best placed to judge what support any particular school may need, not an external sponsor with an eye to the future profits to be made out of the government's programme of privatising England's schools."
Blower said the academy reforms were "wrecking" local authority education services. "Each time a school becomes an academy, funding is removed from the LEA, reducing services and support to remaining schools. It has nothing to do with school improvement but is part of an ideologically driven agenda to dismantle our current system of local accountability for education."
Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said headteachers against academies were "not the 'enemies of promise', but professionals dedicated to improving the lives of young people".
He said: "The keys to school improvement are excellent teaching and leadership and a relentless determination to stamp out failure.
"Many ASCL members have decided that academy status will be the best route to that goal, many others have decided that they can best achieve this as LA [local authority] maintained community schools. What really matters are the outcomes their students achieve rather than the type of school they go to."
The shadow education secretary, Stephen Twigg, will argue on Thursday for an extended school day to prepare pupils for working life. "A longer school day appears to be a smart way forward for a number of reasons," Twigg will tell the North of England Education Conference.
This would help secondary pupils get used to a work-like timetable, he will say. "A long hours culture has its drawbacks, but how many employers expect their workers to leave the office at 3.30pm? A longer day can be progressive in nature. Too many pupils who suffer from poor housing conditions struggle to find a quiet place to study or do their homework. Providing a longer school day will give these students a haven away from what in some cases can be chaotic and troublesome home lives … it can take young people, quite literally, off the streets.
Numerous studies have shown that gang activity is often most prevalent in the hours immediately after schools close, and providing longer school based activities may prevent some from getting into trouble."
The former chair of the cross-party Commons education select committee, Barry Sheerman, is to conduct a review for Labour called School to Work. It will take evidence from teachers, parents, universities and business, as well as look at how other countries are helping pupils prepare for the workplace.
Comments
4 January 2012 3:00PM
Was Gove bullied by local authority school children or what!?
Ok, so teachers who question the wisdom of centralising education control under Gove are of no value in Gove world.
Before the election Gove just looked like a genial fool, but actually in power he is trying to outdo Andrew Lansley at the heath dept.
Liberals and other free thinkers in government should jump on this guy
4 January 2012 3:05PM
Has Gove looked in the mirror and recognised that he is a 'ideologue happy with failure'? When will this man be sacked???? Please wake up Clegg and challenge this stupid man.
4 January 2012 3:07PM
Gove says there's evidence that turning a school into an academy improves the school. How exactly? Is 'academy' a magic word? Where and what is this evidence? Produce it, Gove.
4 January 2012 3:13PM
I knew if I carried on reading I would encounter the word 'leftwing'
The thought of Gove fizzing with testosterone in front of the lucky audience would be risible were the issues not so serious.
So Gove is the expert and everybody who disagrees is a partisan ideologue, who's happy to wreck children's education and betray the trust placed in them by parents and pupils. Yeah right.
When somebody like Gove starts quoting Tony Blair you know they haven't quite got both oars in the water.
4 January 2012 3:22PM
'Ideologues happy with failure' eh?
A bit like when his cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future project was deemed unlawful and an abuse of power, yet he claimed he had won the arguement because he had the final say anyway.
You will never convince this man he is wrong about anything. I think that puts him firmly in the ideologue catergory.
4 January 2012 3:27PM
This Gove is a really nasty bit of work. He probably likes that people think that of him. He is a greedy and evil human being who has no idea what is best for the youth. Hes the education secretary and believes tuition fees being £9k a year (on top of maintenance loan of £2800 a year - that goes to private landlords rich enough to afford a second home to rent out and live off, I might add). How can anyone take this mans ideas or comments seriously. Face facts - he will do as much damage as possible before all is said and done. We have to live with the fact we will spend trillions fixing the damage this government is doing in their ideological pursuit of pushing their right wing agenda on to the UK.
4 January 2012 3:28PM
This Gove is a really nasty bit of work. He probably likes that people think that of him. He is a greedy and evil human being who has no idea what is best for the youth. Hes the education secretary and believes tuition fees being £9k a year (on top of maintenance loan of £2800 a year - that goes to private landlords rich enough to afford a second home to rent out and live off, I might add). How can anyone take this mans ideas or comments seriously. Face facts - he will do as much damage as possible before all is said and done. We have to live with the fact we will spend trillions fixing the damage this government is doing in their ideological pursuit of pushing their right wing agenda on to the uk.
4 January 2012 3:31PM
So Mr Gove is guaranteeing that every academy will be a success - both in academic terms and financial ones?
I don't mention producing well rounded future citizens because I don't think he knows what one is ...
Of course people are raising objections to free schools and mass academy conversion - there is a lot to be said for keeping politics out of education for most of the time anyway
4 January 2012 3:31PM
Is there no depths to which Govethegob will not sink in his quest to bully everyone into his way?
He is vile and his people skills are woeful & the only reason so many schools have become academies is because they get a wad of cash when they do so.
BTW Govethegob - what is the procedure for failing academies? Who will take them over? No thought of that yet? Oh...........
4 January 2012 3:33PM
What a tosser that man is. He is right in that the system is a load of bollocks, but dead wrong when he boasts that he knows how to fix it.
4 January 2012 3:34PM
I agree m1ta, however I imagine that in some deluded way Gove is convinced he will be vindicated.
Politicians of his ilk, who conduct their business in such a ridiculous fashion are rarely rehabilitated by history; when the arguments that led them to their concusions are more remote but the absurdities are as vivid as ever.
4 January 2012 3:38PM
Gove is a disgrace. He is not fit for his post. He should go now.
4 January 2012 3:44PM
A disgrace.
4 January 2012 3:54PM
"It's time we called them what they are: ideologues … it's the bigoted backward bankrupt ideology of a leftwing establishment that perpetuates division and denies opportunity. And it's an ideology that's been proven wrong time and time again."
In the outer London borough where I'm a governing body chair there are precisely 5 schools that have opted to become academies and IIRC 3 of those are faith schools.
I have not had a single enquiry from staff or parents about whether we should become an academy - people are really not that interested and see no particular advantage.
Oh...did I mention that it is Tory controlled?
Lets' just take one piece of his speech:
But beyond these changes – which we've implemented for the benefit of all schools – we've gone further: every school now has the opportunity to take complete control of its budget, curriculum and staffing by applying to be an academy.
If these freedoms are so worthwhile, all Gove had to do was to extend them to all schools while leaving them in their LEA. There was no reason to move them - schools are run by their head teachers under the direction of their governing body. This will not change even when a school becomes an academy.
Even now, it is only his new head of OFSTED that has spotted the fact that there is no external scrutiny of academies as there is under the LA system.
Michael Gove - ideologue and incompetent.
4 January 2012 3:59PM
Teachers are not 'enemies of reform' - the majority of teachers are hardworking, flexible and simply want the very best for the children in their care. Continuous changes, revisions and reforms since the inception of the National Curriculum have become part of most teachers staple-diet - thus making teachers some of the most flexible and adaptive professionals in the UK.
The problem that most of my colleagues have with Academy status is the fact that a small group of self-appointed people with very little accountability to the local community can take total control of a school and what is taught.
There is some limited evidence that Academy status helps to improve attainment however this needs to be read with extreme caution. For example many academies have used alternative courses instead of GCSE courses to raise attainment scores.
For an unbiased report on the performance of academies visit the Sutton Trust website http://www.suttontrust.com/research/the-academies-programme-progress-problems-and-possibilities/
The current Academy programme under Mr Gove is about the demolition of the state education system and the erosion of union influence. Schools are being handed over to what are essentially private interests with very little local accountability.
4 January 2012 4:05PM
Well, education spending had doubled under Labour yet we still have significant number of children leaving state schools practically illiterate.
These local authorities, headteachers and teaching unions have had so many years to improve things with ever bigger budgets yet returned no meaningful positive outcomes.
So maybe it's time to ignore what these people have to say and try something else.
4 January 2012 4:13PM
Tin pot dictator, post code lottery, fragmentation, lack of accountabilty, no consistency in educational standards or staff working conditions and pay.
Disillusioned staff and angry parents.
Gagging clause required to work in one, secrecy.
Big profits for private education companies -ie tory donors.
Dreadful, stifling polyester blazers to be worn at all times.
A big mess, but clearly on parallel lines with the privatisation of the NHS
4 January 2012 4:17PM
Either that, or we could take an evidence-based approach and get it right at a lower cost to the taxpayer.
4 January 2012 4:21PM
Unions represent teachers.They are only interested in its members' benefits, not school children's. Therefore I don't see how 'erosion of union unfluence' per se is bad for children's education.
Given that this 'local accountability' has been going for so many years yet we still get schools that fail consistently, I don't see why we shouldn't let other people try.
4 January 2012 4:22PM
This is almost beyond parody. How does the weasel Gove explain that removing funding from elected LAs and handing it to a bunch of Whitehall apparatchiks appointed for their craven toeing of the Gove ideological line is anything other than greater central control? How has this man progressed this far in politics?
4 January 2012 4:25PM
Can someone explain to me what exactly is an academy? I have never seen a definition,
Surely the kids are the same and most likely the teachers so what is the difference?
4 January 2012 4:27PM
Try reading this, in the British Medical Journal.
The assault on universalism: how to destroy the welfare state
Excerpt:
So for those who wish to destroy the European model of welfare state, the structural weaknesses of social welfare in the United States offer an attractive model. First, create an identifiable group of undeserving poor. Second, create a system in which the rich see little benefit flowing back to them from their taxes. Third, diminish the role of trade unions, portraying them as pursuing the narrow interests of their members rather than, as is actually the case, recognising that high rates of trade union membership have historically benefited the general population. Finally, as Reagan did when cutting welfare in the 1980s, do so in a way that attracts as little attention as possible, putting in place policies whose implications are unclear and whose effects will only be seen in the future. All these strategies can be seen in the UK today.
The tabloid press, much of it owned by multi-millionaires, is at the forefront of the first approach. Each day they fill their pages with accounts of people “milking the system.” By constant repetition they create new forms of word association, constructing a cultural underclass. “Welfare” is invariably associated with “scroungers.” “Bogus” invariably describes “asylum seekers.” They accept that there is a group of deserving poor, whose situation has arisen from “genuine misfortune” (which seemingly excludes refugees caught up in wars), but when these groups appear in their pages it is because they have been let down by the state, which is devoting its efforts to the undeserving. And as a growing body of research shows, this continuous diet of hate does make a difference.
http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7973
4 January 2012 4:30PM
The main difference is that the school gets extra funding. That is why they do it and that is why they can improve. Simple.
4 January 2012 4:31PM
Firstly - what sort of academies are we talking about?
Labour ones that often rose out of failing schools in low socio-economic areas. These had help, guidance, assistance and a degree of money to get them selves going. These have met with some success.
Or
Michael Gove's academies. Schools that think, and this is untested, they can flourish out of LA 'control'. These have not been running long enough to make accurate judgements as to their success or not.
Are teachers opposed to change - possibly - as we often feel that this will upset and disturb our primary task - teaching.
Is disaggreing with Michael Gove mean that we are happy with failure - no.
As others have written I'm no enemy of reform - but I do want to see fairness for pupils, I want to see calm, logical and child centred developments to Education.
I feel that the whole Conservative academy programme has some extra agenda. To kill off LAs? As both a Governor and Teacher I've found then a usefully sized bodies. True some make the headlines with daft ideas but Daily Mail incidents apart most do a good job and their hearts are in the right place.
Schools and Heads having critical friends, advice available on the end of a phone will go. Schools will sail on blindly until they get put into special measures by OFSTED. Too late then, too many children will have suffered in the years of downward drift.
I've worked for one or two less than capable heads - who will rein them in now? Who will keep teachers abreast of development, who will co-ordinate admissions, link schools together.
We will increasingly become separate educational islands - and like businesses wary of our competitors.
I think there is a degree of Emporer's new clothes about the academies mixed in with the apple, snake, Adam and Eve.
I'd also like to see a degree of looking forward - to the country's future needs - surely not to be met with a 'return' to an idealised 50s educational system.
CP
4 January 2012 4:35PM
This extra funding, or increased funding, is taken off the LA at source.
This means that children in the LA's existing, non-academy, schools have less money to go round.
Not quite sure what happens when the increased funding removes all of a LA's funds and they still have schools to run?
Either only the early adopters will benefit OR its like pyramid selling but in reverse?
cp
4 January 2012 4:43PM
Exactly. Extra money is being offered as a bribe to schools to take academy status now. But where will the money come from in future? As was mentioned earlier, the academies improve because they get extra resources, and were intended to take over from failing schools in poorer areas. Gove wants all schools to be academies, and is handing out bribes like confetti now, so that "his" idea isn't seen as a massive failure.
What a scumbag.
4 January 2012 4:43PM
So you're saying that 'throwing money at the problem' is the answer? Why then, in all other areas of public funding, do Conservatives view 'throwing money at the problem' as a bad thing? Furthermore, if greater funding is the solution, why can't central government increase funding to LAs according to the number of schools within their purlieu that are considered to be in need of improvement?
4 January 2012 4:44PM
At last we have an Education Minister with some brains who is only interested in improving the education of the children instead of chaos with labour ministers who were only interested in becoming chancellor or PM and their own interests.
Unfortunately labour have produced a generation of badly educated children who will end up jobless and/or criminals, as it will take many years to mend what labour have done. Parents should never forgive labour for what they have done.
4 January 2012 4:49PM
Hahahaha!! Brilliant. Are you actually living on planet earth? Can you even remember the state of the schools the last time this lot were in charge. It was a disgrace. I'm no apologist for new labour, but they did invest massively in education, and achieved a great deal in primary education at least.
This lot are scoundrels.
Love to see you come up with some facts to back your Govist ideological nonsense.
4 January 2012 5:09PM
fortunately,and thanks to labours new school building project,at least three schools that i know of in the area i live have been completed ,the comp at shirebrook was in dire need of a rebuild and thankfully will be completed in the next year or so benefitting thousands of local kids,as comments below suggest gove,a man who should be in prison among many others ,is literally bribing schools to take up his offer of more money,thereby depriving other schools of much needed funds.my sons infant school is still under local authority which i am pleased about,my daughters school which was one of the above that has been rebuilt ,has informed parents that it is thinking of applying for academy status.while good for this school in the short term,other schools look like they will be under more pressure to find funding,and being the snake gove is,i can see the sly little bugger leaving them all high and dry over time.
4 January 2012 5:26PM
The two Woodard academies on the South Coast have not improved academic results in the slightest and the Head of one has already resigned rather than admit to failure- 27 million pounds well spent.
Does anyone, anywhere have any positive results to report on any school showing demonstrable improvements across the board since becoming an academy?
4 January 2012 5:27PM
So this is Goves idea of democracy............ what a bully but one with little ideological strength.. Out of his chaos elitism will be engineered. A return to the pre comprehensive days when banks and other institutions would only employ those from grammer schools..... a system that had little to do with meritocracy but more to do with grooming by the controling powers.
Like all bullies... he lashes out at those who oppose him rather than allowing sensible debate..... I wonder what the problem is.... is the budget looking a little dodgy......... he cant get his grubby little hands on the funds for those who wish to remain with LEAS before the momentum ebbs. The sweetners for those signing up for academy status have already stopped!
What a mess!!!!!!
4 January 2012 5:28PM
The two Woodard academies on the South Coast have not improved academic results in the slightest and the Head of one has already resigned rather than admit to failure- 27 million pounds well spent.
Does anyone, anywhere have any positive results to report on any school showing demonstrable improvements across the board since becoming an academy?
4 January 2012 5:55PM
This says it all really:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQL5L31-1E
4 January 2012 6:07PM
for those who wish to destroy the European model of welfare state, the structural weaknesses of social welfare in the United States offer an attractive model
...................................................................................................................................................................................
tory weasels have been plotting over the atlantic bridge with GOP loons and tea party bigots for years.
Lansley has admmitted to plottting -sorry "working on", these destructive and devisive policies for 6 years.
4 January 2012 6:14PM
FuturePM, here are some points which you might like to consider when you use English to comment on education:
1) He probably likes [it] that...
2) ...he[']s...
3) ...[E]ducation [S]ecretary...
4) ...and believes [in] tuition fees...
5) ...man[']s...
6) ...do as much....said and done. Repetition: two uses of the verb "do" within a sentence
7) ...the fact [that] we will...
8) ....government is [singular] doing in their [plural] ideological... Government is a collective noun and thus singular
9) ...their {its} right wing agenda...
Can you cite references for your claim:"...the fact that we will spend trillions fixing the damage..." ?
4 January 2012 6:15PM
gove,a man who should be in prison among many others ,is literally bribing schools to take up his offer of more money,thereby depriving other schools of much needed funds.
..................................................................................................................................
This is half the truth, sadly.
Academies would not be possible without the complicity of the Head Teacher and senior management (dazzled by 6 figure £ signs)-all rubber stamped by generally unquestioning governors.
Time after time parents, front line staff and pupils have protested and campaigned against Academy status but are usually overruled
It is the Heads and management that should be in jail as well as Gove.
Check out on google the disgraceful behaviour of the (recently appointed) head at Shorefields High School in Liverpool.
4 January 2012 6:17PM
In response to @ Taurusdrycider
4 January 2012 6:22PM
Bear in mind that the doubling was in 13 years.
While the results of the very bottom are important and a national disgrace, you can't from them argue that no other good was done.
4 January 2012 6:23PM
Govey really inspiring those pupils recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQL5L31-1E
I bet teachers all around the country are just in awe of him.
4 January 2012 6:24PM
Dear Michael,
That speech wins on alliteration dear. But you do seem upset. It's those tedious evidence-heads again, isn't it. Show them you're rational and not out-of-your-depth by shouting things back at them like a silly schoolboy.
Love,
M
xx
4 January 2012 6:26PM
Evidence that the local accountability is the problem, please.
Generally the government talks about "localism". It would be funny if localism in education were bad, wouldn't it?
4 January 2012 6:27PM
The Academy programme is bad for teachers, communities and ultimately the poor kids who attend them.
All the evidence suggests that senior managers in academies enjoy huge pay rises while the teachers are forced to endure pay cuts and extension to their directed working hours. Bullying by managers is rife as they squeeze more and more out of their staff both teaching and non teaching. Pupils are factory fodder on a production line.
The policy has nothing to do with raising standards. It is about more for less while asset stripping public assets and placing them in private hands. The current crop of academy conversions may receive extra funding presently but this will dry up as more schools convert. Moreover, schools have to buy in services previously provided by LEAs and this is a minefield with crippling costs and risks.
Academies are no longer democratically accountable to their local communities and councils. It is the privatisation of our state education system. The New Labour academies have paved the way for the Tories to impose by diktat this expropriation of our state education system by vultures who want to make a profit out of it. It is Robin Hood in reverse.
The evidence that these institutions raise standards is dubious. Extra money, cooking the books and selection by stealth has allowed these institutions to bleed other schools of funds while presenting a glossy but fake image of rising standards. It is an insidious, sly and seedy policy that is about enriching the pockets of the Tories, their henchmen (senior managers in academies) and the business interests that will make a huge profit from the dismantling of LEA schools and the theft of their huge land portfolio. It simply about diverting public funds into the pocket's of the wealthy so they can make millions. It is not about improving the education of our children.
It is disgusting and a total subversion of the law and democratic process by a bunch of greedy parasites as is the case with the NHS etc.
4 January 2012 6:34PM
Gove is a laughable gonk who thought he had successfully conned all voters with children into thinking that local authorities are, by definition, evil and that the dictionary definition of 'academy' is a kind of utopian 'school' that they should demand and can't fail - simply because it's called "an academy".
Now he practises old "East European-style democracy" and wants to force schools to opt out because the PR spin he placed his faith in has failed so abjectly ahead of the Tories' concealed intent to legislate to allow their pirate mates in to rip more of these schools - and all of the kids in them - off. We must defeat him.
4 January 2012 6:50PM
ennisfree,could be wrong ,but it looks like the pompous git at my daughters school seems to be heading in the same direction as shorefields,money eh!
4 January 2012 7:03PM
Michael Gove is, quite simply, bonkers.
4 January 2012 7:03PM
Read the speech in full. Gove doesn't argue that local authorities are the problem, he argues that the international and academic evidence supports the idea that giving more autonomy to head teachers generates benefits. I do wonder just how long we have to put up with our children going to sub-standard schools before we decide to do something about it. We have had academies for long enough now to decide whether they work. Gove has clearly decided they do and is pushing ahead. Do you have an alternative change that is evidenced, bears comparison with other countries and will improve standards?
4 January 2012 7:05PM
Actually 'government' can be used either as a singular noun or as a plural noun. Perhaps not both in the same sentence but nonetheless can be used either way.
4 January 2012 7:07PM
But our children don't go to 'sub-standard' schools. This is a myth.
And Gove's 'evidence' can be disputed very easily. It all depends on where you get your 'evidence' from and how you use it.
4 January 2012 7:08PM
Can you provide one, just one, example of a public asset being transferred to the private sector as a result of the academies programme? Can you point me to "all the evidence" that senior managers in academies enjoy huge pay rises or that teachers have to endure cuts in pay?