Coalition government expected to stick with Tory schools plan

The Liberal Democrat's manifesto said that academies should be replaced with "sponsor-managed schools", directly accountable to local councils. But the Conservatives are determined to free schools from local authority control.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, explained: "They agree on the idea of having new providers of schools, but whereas the Tories would set these schools free, the Liberal Democrats would bring them under local authority control."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, said that the Conservative's education policies would remain in tact. "The Liberal Democrats are a strong local government party and it was an important part of their education policy to underline local government's involvement with schools. That is clearly now going to be a tension for the party to deal with."

Keates added that her union's first job would be to engage with the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, and seek to dissuade them from removing schools from local authority control.