Bridget Phillipson tells critics to ‘leave London for a change’ to see scale of schools crisis as reform row escalates

The education secretary has become embroiled in a war of words over her school reforms

Bridget Phillipson said she was being attacked by Tory shadow ministers and ‘their friends in the commentariat’ (PA)

A war of words has erupted over Bridget Phillipson’s school reforms, with the education secretary urging critics to “try leaving London for a change”.

Ms Phillipson said she was being attacked by Tory shadow ministers and “their friends in the commentariat” all based in the capital, with many academies outside London struggling or failing altogether.

She wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “Opposition shadow ministers and their friends in the commentariat should try leaving London for a change: they’ll find plenty of underperforming academies which need new answers to drive up standards in their classrooms.”

Ms Phillipson urged critics to ‘leave London for a change’ (PA)

It came after former education secretary Michael Gove and ex-Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman rounded on her over planned changes to academy schools and a review of the curriculum.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Gove said Ms Phillipson’s plans risked “blighting the prospects of children and holding our economy back”.

“I am concerned that the emphasis on ambition and rigour in the education system will be diluted,” he said.

Mr Gove added: “Any attempt to divert and water down the commitment to excellence will be to surrender to the trade union-led war on knowledge at a time when the government at last begins to get it right on defence, welfare and health.”

Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aims to ensure all state schools – academies and those run by councils – follow the same pay and conditions framework.

Academies, which are independent of local authorities, currently have the freedom to set their own pay and conditions for staff, and some academies exceed the national pay scales for teachers.

Michael Gove said the education secretary’s bill risked ‘blighting the prospects of children’ (PA)

But the new bill would bring all teachers onto the same core pay and conditions framework, whether they work in a local authority-run school or an academy.

It would also see academies forced to teach the national curriculum for the first time, while they would also lose the power to recruit teachers without qualifications.

Ms Phillipson is also expected to publish an interim review of the English school curriculum on Tuesday morning, the Telegraph reported.

Mr Gove said he was particularly concerned about the future of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which he introduced as education secretary so pupils would take a wide range of GCSEs including English, mathematics, science, a language and either geography or history.

“Any move away from an ambitious curriculum – particularly moving away from the EBacc – will only blight the prospects of children and hold our economy back,” he added.

It came a day after Ms Spielman launched her own stinging attack on Ms Phillipson, accusing her of caring more about the interests of trade unions than schoolchildren.

Amanda Spielman doubled down on her criticism of Bridget Phillipson (PA)

A government official hit back, saying Ms Spielman should “spend less time criticising the reforms this government is bringing and more time reflecting on her failure at Ofsted and on a teaching profession that entirely lost confidence in her as chief inspector”.

But Ms Spielman doubled down, saying: “That’s fascinating in itself because that’s a union line.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme on Monday, Ms Spielman said: “For over 20 years now we’ve had a steady policy of giving schools and academy chains quite significant levels of autonomy, balanced by strong accountability, and over that time it’s very clear that the performance of the English system relative to others has been very strong.

“Indeed we have many people looking to us and visiting, wanting to learn from what’s happened in England, to take into their own systems.

“So at just that point, to see a whole raft of initiatives – these academy provisions in this bill, the curriculum and assessment review, the review of teacher training standards, and several other initiatives – that seem to add up to a very significant reversal, without any analysis of what’s been good and what’s been less good.”

Asked if the changes would damage children’s education, she said: “I think it’s very likely they will add up to something that will – because the common thread running through seems to be they are about changes that are likely to please unions, that essentially put unions and union members ahead of children.”

The National Education Union (NEU) has welcomed Labour’s proposals, saying they would “make a meaningful difference to the lives of staff and children”, but has also vowed to push for more investment.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – alongside our new regional improvement teams and Ofsted reforms – delivers on our mission for every child to have a good, local school, will get high-quality teachers into every classroom, and [will] ensure that all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best talent.”