Ed Balls attacks Tory “gimmick”

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Ed Balls has attacked the government this afternoon over their academy plans, following reports that education secretary Michael Gove is considering changing admissions codes to allow academies and free schools to give priority to children who receive free school meals. Balls said:

“If the government was serious about Academies serving children from poorer backgrounds, then they would have continued with Labour’s previous policy.”

“Labour’s Academies were focused on transforming under-performing schools, often in disadvantaged areas, and had a higher proportion of children on free school meals than the national average. But Michael Gove’s new Academies have been distorted to focus on schools which are already doing well and in more affluent areas.”

“After weeks of reports about how the poorest will bear the brunt of the coalition’s cuts, it’s no surprise that the government is rushing out an announcement that looks superficially like it might help the most disadvantaged.”

“If the pupil premium turns out to be a token amount of money compared to existing deprivation funding, extra funding on top of a smaller budget, or paid for by cutting other programmes that help the most disadvantaged children then this announcement may turn out to be little more than a gimmick.”