Industrial Action in Schools

Michael Gove Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

Industrial action, today, has had a severe impact on schools across the country and has caused disruption to children’s schooling and to parents and employers. At the same time, we know that many dedicated professionals have worked hard to keep schools open where they could.

The Department for Education has collected data about school closure from local authorities, academies and free schools to assess the impact of today’s industrial action.

There are 21,476 state-funded schools in England (maintained schools, academies, free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools). Some 13,349 (62%) were reported to be closed, 2,951 (14%) were reported to be partially open and 3,351 (16%) were reported to be fully open. The situation with a further 1,825 (8%) has not been reported to us or the local authority did not know.

Of the 20,027 maintained schools, 12,526 (63%) were reported to be closed, 2,536 (13%) were reported to be partially open and 3,140 (16%) were reported to be fully open. The situation with a further 1,825 (9%) was not reported or was reported as unknown.

Of the 1,449 academies (including free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools) 823 (57%) were reported to be closed, 415 (29%) were reported to be partially open and 211 (15%) reported to be fully open. There are 24 free schools, of which four were reported closed, one was reported partially open and 19 were reported to be fully open.