Plans to force schools to become academies initially featured in a white paper in March of this year.
This was followed two months later by a climb-down on the compulsory aspect when the Education For All bill was unveiled in the Queen's speech.
Also withdrawn were plans to end statutory places for parents on boards of governors.
Yesterday, in a statement to Parliament, education secretary Justine Greening finally drew a line under the bill, announcing, ‘no changes to legislation’ are needed for ‘building capacity in the system and encouraging schools to convert voluntarily’.
She said, ‘Our ambition remains that all schools should benefit from the freedom and autonomy that academy status brings.
'Our focus, however, is on building capacity in the system and encouraging schools to convert voluntarily.
‘No changes to legislation are required for these purposes and therefore we do not require wider education legislation in this session to make progress on our ambitious education agenda.’
It is a victory for teaching unions and parents who opposed the plans, which led to national demonstrations.
A number of Conservative-led councils and some Conservative MPs had also spoken out against the proposals.
Some commentators believe the scrapping of the education bill introduced by former education secretary Nicky Morgan, under David Cameron, is clearing the way for prime minister Theresa May’s agenda.
A green paper consultation suggesting more schools should be able to select pupils on academic ability is ending in mid-December, and may be followed by a white paper early next year.
Referring to the ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’ consultation, announced on 12 September, Ms Greening reiterated her support for selective schools.
‘This consultation asks how we can create more great school places in more parts of the country - including selective places for local areas that want them - and asks our independent schools, universities and faith schools to play their part in improving the quality of our state-funded schools,’ she said.
However, Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for education, said she believed the end of the Education Bill meant the grammar schools policy was being dropped.
‘This was supposed to be the new prime minister’s flagship domestic policy – an Education Bill paving the way for a new generation of grammar schools,’ she said.
‘That has been abandoned as a result of the huge pressure Labour has put the Government under.
‘The real priority for education are policies that will enable every child to reach their full potential and the investment to make that happen.’
Adrian Prandle, director of economic strategy and negotiations, at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), described the academies news as a ‘victory for common sense’.
‘This U-turn reflects the lack of evidence that academies guarantee children a better education or improve education outcomes, and the difficulty the Department for Education already has in ensuring there is no financial impropriety in academies.’
Mr Prandle added that he hoped ‘damaging plans’ to abolish qualified teacher status would also go.
He also called for ministers to ‘pay heed to the overwhelming evidence that grammar schools do not improve social mobility’.
‘The Government must now focus on the real challenges in education – recruiting and retaining enough qualified teachers, providing enough school places and reducing teachers’ workloads,’ he said.
‘It also needs to ensure any changes to school funding protect disadvantaged children and take into account the real-terms funding cuts schools are having to cope with.’
The Local Government Association (LGA) also expressed relief that the Government appeared to be acting on concerns from councils.
Councillor Richard Watts, chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said, ‘Councils have been clear from the outset that the proposals within the Bill focussed too heavily on structures, when our shared ambition is on improving education for all children.
‘In particular, both the forced academisation of schools in areas considered to be ‘unviable’, and the removal of the council role in school improvement, went against evidence that council-maintained schools perform more highly than academies and free schools in Ofsted inspections, and that conversion to academies did not in itself lead to better results.’
