Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting ahead of the speech by the President of the National Association of Head Teachers conference to their annual conference today, said:

“There is now an established alliance of parents, head teachers, local government and even Conservative MPs against the Government’s plans to force all schools to become academies against their wishes. With more confusion this week on whether the Tories will or won’t U-turn in the face of this opposition, head teachers should not be panicked into jumping before they are pushed. If the Government does not ask Parliament for new powers to compel good and outstanding schools to become academies in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech, then schools should take the message loud and clear that the Tory Government is back-peddling.

“At a time when schools are facing huge challenges of falling budgets, teacher shortages, rising class sizes and chaos in exams and assessment, these plans are a costly, top-down reorganisation of the schools system that will remove even more money, time and effort away from where the focus in schools should be. Rather than plough on regardless, David Cameron should ‎drop these plans.”