Gove defends academies claims after only 153 schools apply for the status

The Academies Bill was passed by MPs earlier this week allowing less than a week for the detail of the legislation to be debated.

But despite Gove’s claims last month that more than 1,100 schools had applied for academy status, it has been revealed that the total so far is a fraction of this number.

The 153 applications that have been received contain a range of secondary and primary schools.

Speaking on Radio 4 today, Gove dismissed claims that the number of applications amounted to a failure. He said the government wanted to give schools freedoms, but the "timetable for exercising those freedoms is for them to decide".

Teaching unions have criticised the government for rushing academies legislation through before the parliamentary summer recess.

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Our education system is too important to be subject to acting in haste, but repenting at leisure. It would have been far better to have given adequate time for the bill to be properly debated, to ensure the legislation was right so that schools knew what they were applying for.

"It will be interesting to see if the list of schools applying to become an academy is as accurate, or not, as the notorious Building Schools for the Future list."

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "We are far short of Michael Gove's much vaunted claims. Of the 153, a few may even have already had their application rejected.