Education Secretary, Michael Gove started the New Year with a battle cry to opponents of his Academies Programme. In a speech at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College, London, Gove accused Local Authorities and other groups that were resisting Academy conversions in their areas as being ‘happy with failure’ and told them “Change is coming. And to those who want to get in the way, I have just two words: hands off."
Responding to the growing numbers of academies in an interview with the Times, the New Ofsted Chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw proposed the creation of a network of local commissioners to identify failing academies and report on performance of schools in their area. Wilshaw who will take up his post as England's new Chief Education Inspector next month, also suggested that some school governors should be paid in a bid to improve their performance and that scruffy teachers could be reprimanded.
In a speech to the North of England Education Conference, Schools Minister Nick Gibb reflected on the Coalition's changes to education in 2011 and outlined their plans including the ‘conversion of weak primary schools’ and a focus on reading and sport in school
