However, it is not now thought he will head the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which now looks set to be broken up. The name plate outside the DCSF building has been spotted as being removed and replaced with one for a new Department for Education.
Sources said the line-up of the "second tier" of ministers under Gove would be a crucial indicator over what overall direction that children's policy outside the confines of formal education will take.
With the Lib Dems expected to be assigned around 20 ministerial posts in the coalition government, Lib Dem children's spokeswoman Annette Brooke could be in line for a ministerial role.
Liberal Democrat David Laws, who had been strongly linked with the Schools Secretary post overnight, has been made Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Tory chancellor George Osborne.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, founder of the Centre for Social Justice think tank that has informed much of Tory families policy, has been confirmed as Work and Pensions Secretary.
